Soulpepper Theatre Company (Soulpepper) was founded in 1998 in Toronto by a group of twelve artists for a two-production summer season. In 2005, Soulpepper migrated from its location at Harbourfront Centre to its current home at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts. Soulpepper hopes to build a national civic theatre; a place of belonging for artists and audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Soulpepper runs artistic productions and arts education programs.

In 2018, Soulpepper held 479 performances and public events. Soulpepper reports that it reached 75,536 audience members across all of its productions, festivals, and events during the year. Soulpepper is one of the most active production companies for plays in Canada. In 2018, Soulpepper states that it built 12 new sets and produced 16 plays, 11 of which were directed by women. Soulpepper states that it contracted 320 individual artists in 2018, 172 of whom were women.

The Soulpepper Academy, launched in 2006, is Canada’s only two-year, paid professional training program for actors, designers, directors, playwrights, and producers. The training program prepares talented artists to work with Soulpepper and other professional performing arts companies. In 2018, Soulpepper reports that 45 artist instructors engaged in education and community programs.

Soulpepper also runs various free youth programs and workshops to engage young artists. Through its City Youth Academy, Soulpepper offers a six-week program for ten performers aged 16 to 19. The program pairs each performer with a Soulpepper mentor and involves rigorous training in movement, voice, writing, and more. Soulpepper also offers Curtain Up and Curtain Up Online, a series of free workshops in a variety of theatrical disciplines. In 2018, Soulpepper reports that 397 youth participated in free youth and community programs.

Recent News: Albert Schultz, Soulpepper’s artistic director, resigned in 2018 in light of a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by four actresses against Schultz. The lawsuit alleged that Soulpepper “failed to provide a safe work environment,” and $376k in government funding was rescinded as a result. In August 2018, all parties reached an undisclosed out-of-court settlement. Soulpepper reported to CBC News that it underwent changes in its organizational culture, including the appointment of women as its new executive director and artistic director.

Soulpepper Theatre Company is a medium-sized charity with donations of $3.7m in F2019. Administrative costs are 13% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 17% of donations. This results in overhead spending of 30%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 70 cents go to the cause. This falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

The charity has total funding reserves of $8.5m, including $7.4m in donor-endowed funds. Excluding donor-endowed funds, Soulpepper could cover 14%, or between one and two months, of annual program costs.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Soulpepper Theatre Company for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 20, 2020 by Eric Zhao.