Children’s Theatre Festival

The Cause

We are three non-profits groups dedicated to theatre who want to work together to present the first ever Children's Theatre Festival in Cochrane, Alberta.

The Festival will be a one-day event, showcasing professional children's theatre shows at an outside venue in the community. It will be a joint effort between Sleeping Giants Theatre Society, Take A Bow Community Theatre Society, and Black Box Theatre Guild, all of which are local non-profits dedicated to enhancing theatre, culture and community in the town of Cochrane. All professional acts invited to take part in the festival would be local, based out of Cochrane, Calgary or surrounding areas to support local artists and arts organizations.

At the Festival, community theatre volunteers will work alongside professionals to host a fun and interactive day for families and children of all ages. The Festival will be free for the public to attend, to aid us on our collective mission to make theatre more accessible for the community of Cochrane. Along with the presentation of 4 professional children's theatre productions, spread throughout the day, the Festival will also have roving performers, food trucks, face painting, craft stations, and other fun family friendly vendors to create a full festival atmosphere.

We hope to turn this Festival into an annual event, which would draw crowds from all over Cochrane, Calgary, Airdrie, and surrounding areas. As a community full of young families, we hope to bring people together for a fun day of celebrating creativity, connection, and the magic of live theatre.

In terms of responsibilities, our three organizations would divide tasks as follows:

Black Box Theatre Guild would be in charge of administration; it would responsible for permits, washroom facilities, contingency planning, organizing vendors, administering funding towards costs and invoices, and collecting any community donations to the event.

Sleeping Giants Theatre will be responsible for arranging the professional entertainment.

Take A Bow Community Theatre Society will be responsible for organizing volunteers and entertainment to guests between the professional shows.

All three organizations will share in the marketing efforts to ensure the greatest reach and high attendance at this inaugural event.

Who Will it Benefit?

This will be a family-friendly, welcoming event that encourages our community to come together and share in something special and unique. Families who attend the Festival will benefit from the opportunity to share in the love of theatre and family fun for no charge. We hope that it will inspire young people to be brave, be creative and make their own art. This will also be an incredible day of connection and fun, which will contribute to a sense of community and love for the town of Cochrane.

By bringing on professional acts from Cochrane, Calgary and surrounding areas, we are supporting local artists and arts organizations, helping them to reach more people and continuing creating live performance art.

For local members volunteering and performing with Take A Bow Community Theatre, there is the opportunity to gain more experience performing on and off stage, give back to the community, and have lots of fun doing it!

It will also benefit the three organizations producing the festival by aiding us in our missions to bring more theatre to Cochrane and showing our community the magic of live theatre experiences.

Finally, this Festival will have a positive impact on the town of Cochrane, enhancing our tourism sector, showing people how much Cochrane has to offer, and providing a space for local businesses to gain visibility through sponsorships and vendor stations.