Grand Theatre executive director to step down after more than 20 successful seasons

What began as a six-month interim management position turned into a successful 21-year career.

Back in 2000, Deb Harvey was hired to help turn things around at the then-struggling Grand Theatre in London. Under her leadership, the theatre has turned a profit every seasonuntil the pandemic.

This week, Harvey announced her plans to move on from the position, and spoke to CBC Radio's Afternoon Drive.Here's part of that conversation, edited for length and clarity.

Why is now the right time to step away and give youryear's notice?

There are so many reasons. First and foremost, I would say that I've been here a long time and had this extraordinary, awesome, terrific run at this job. And someone else deserves a go at it. Our industry is calling for change and transformation. I felt that it had to start from the top, and that it was time. And, like I said, it's been a great run and much longer and than I ever thought.

• London's Grand Theatre announces first deficit in 21 years

You were hired on a six-month contract at a very tumultuous time for Grand Theatre. Tell us a bit more about what was going on then.

The theatre was in some trouble in '99, 2000. It was a four-million-dollar organization with a million-dollar deficit, and their executive director had left. The theatre was looking for interim management services and a company to do an organizational assessment toget them back on track. And at the same time, they were doing a fundraising campaign to raise $500,000 to keep the doors open. I arrived on a six-month contract in January of 2000. I'm originally from Nova Scotia. I had a company there and they hired our company, me, to provide interim management services and our company to do the organizational assessment.

How were you able to turn things around?

First of all, (London entrepreneur) Don Smith and his team, they were successful in raising that $500,000 to keep the doors open. And then we began conversations with the city. At that time, the theatre was receiving about $28,000 annually on a $4 million budget. And we certainly didn't feel that that was enough. And you know what? It was the right time, right people, right place. We began lobbying around a blue sky idea of setting up a community arts investment program. And it took hold and it happened. The city invested $1.25 million in the arts in London, of which the Grand Theatre then became a recipient of $500,000 in annual operating funding.

Give us a sense of how the output of the theatre may have grown or changed creatively. Have you noticed a shift in in the kind of work, or the quality of work that the theatre puts up every year?

Well, it certainly it costs more. We are now an eight-million-dollar organization in a regular year. So the cost of productions has increased pretty dramatically, just the cost of materials and labour and so on. I would say the quality of our productions has stayed steady and true. Some of the best in the country. We have extraordinary theatre artists working for our company. Some of them have been here longer than I, and are still here and still working. So the quality of our productions have stayed pretty steady and we've always been top notch in the country, really.

When you think of what you're leaving behind, what are you most proud of?

I am proud of how we do our work. I think that I'm extraordinarily proud of how everybody leans in to shift and change. My leaving will be one of those changes, but we are also clearly determined to make a shift in terms of who works in this theatre, who attends the theatre, the kind of work we do, and the plays we put on. And move forward.