Evergreen Theatre Society shutting down after 34 years serving Calgary's arts community

The Evergreen Theatre Society is shutting down operations at the end of June after 34 years in business.

The theatre group offered science programming in schools across Alberta, as well as accessible, affordable community spaces for art, theatre and dance.

Sean Fraser, Evergreen's executive director, said the group was unable to renew a 10-year loan contract with the Social Enterprise Fund (SEF), an Alberta-based loan lender which invests in social enterprises and entrepreneurs.

"It's been really disappointing," Fraser said. "Not only because of our space, but because that's sort of what's been going on in the arts and culture sector for many years."

Fraser said Evergreen has paid over $1 million worth of interest on its $5.5 million loan since 2020, but SEF has decided to pull their money out of the project.

"It's their right. It's their money and that's the way it goes," he said.

"But because the building itself isn't valued at the amount that we borrowed, they will then actually come after Evergreen for the balance of the monies owed, which basically makes Evergreen Theatre… inoperable."

In an emailed statement, SEF's director Ryan Young said that in the last 10 years, SEF has made "numerous efforts" to help Evergreen financially through nine extensions and amendments to the original loan agreement.

"Despite these efforts, Evergreen was still unable to meet its loan commitments which led us to make the difficult decision to not renew the loan, which matured on March 15, 2025," Young's statement said.

The loan, Fraser said, was meant to be part of a long-term plan to own a facility, pay off the SEF loan, and in turn, rely less on government funding to operate going forward — but a number of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, complicated that vision.

The SEF has not shared plans yet for the building after June 30.

Arts groups left to find an alternative space

Evergreen offers musical theatre programming to students from kindergarten to Grade 6 on topics related to science and the environment. 

The 24,000-square-foot community arts space, located in Calgary's northeast Mayland Heights neighbourhood, houses various studios, a presentation theatre and office spaces. 

Fraser said they have anywhere from 80 to 100 clients who currently use the facility, and service more than 100,000 people each year.

One of those clients is Cordelia Deano, who teaches with the Artistique Parents Association. 

"It really sucks," she said. "I found the space really nice and they did a really good job of what they do, especially providing us such low fees to rent out the room for an hour. And they're beautiful rooms — the rooms are huge, so it's nice. You can use it for anything."

Deano said if they can't find an alternative space that's affordable, then won't be able to provide dance classes.

A loss to the arts community

"It's nothing short of devastating," said Ryan Gray, a freelance artist who works with Ghost River Theatre.

"When we were rehearsing here last month, we were here twice a week during daytime hours and this place was always buzzing. 

"I would see all ages from babies to seniors, people with disabilities or special needs and a bit of everything: dance classes, yoga, presentations, rehearsals, singing lessons. There was always something going on."

Gray remembers Evergreen Theatre touring productions back when he was in elementary school. Now, he and his colleagues rely on the space for rehearsals.

"There's a real drastic shortage of rehearsal space in Calgary for artists, and especially affordable space for emerging artists and indie companies," he said.

Shona Robinson brings her homeschooled children to the Evergreen facility for dance classes, and said losing the space is really unfortunate.

"Even the building itself, it's been made for this reason," she said. "And whether they're gonna rip that out or something, that's just really sad.

"A place that makes it so accessible to be able to dance and all these different arts. There's not many places in the city like that at all, or it's like those private-owned places but not a community space."

After years of serving the community, Fraser said he's proud of the work Evergreen accomplished. 

"We were around for 10 years [at the current community space], plus the time with the other spaces. So we've got nothing to be ashamed of."