Community Update – November 2025

(This is a long one!)

TL;DR:

We’ve had a busy and exciting few months, a great open house, APCO’s invitation to do a performance with the NB Medical Education Foundation, a successful haunted house fundraiser, and lots of upcoming events including a Coffee House night, Holiday Showcase, and Uptown Sparkles performance! We’re also calling for volunteers and committee members to help us grow sustainably. Read on for all the details, and thank you for being part of our community!

Important Dates:

November 8 – Tickets Go on Sale for our Holiday Showcase, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Volunteer Sign-Up form here)

November 18 – Coffee House

November 28 – Rudolph Movie Screening 

ProKids Registration for winter and March financial support is open now. Click here to apply.

Dear Families and Friends,

We’re so grateful to be part of such a vibrant and supportive community. September was an exciting month for us, our Open House was a wonderful success! It was great to meet new parents, reconnect with familiar faces, and welcome new youth into our programs. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to learn more about what we do.

We also had the incredible opportunity for APCO to perform at NB Medical Education Foundation’s awards gala, which was later aired on TV. Sara was fortunate to attend and was deeply impressed by the dedication of the children and staff who pulled together a fantastic performance, all in just one month of preparation! 

A big thank-you to our parents for accommodating the extra rehearsals and supporting the performers. NB Medical Education Foundation is dedicated to attracting and retaining NB’s future health care providers by offering scholarships. They reached out because of the strong connection between creative arts and medicine, many of their scholarship recipients come from artistic backgrounds, and wanted to surprise their guests with an artistic performance. We were honoured to be asked to participate and it was a wonderful example of community collaboration in action.

Organizational Update

Over the past six months, we’ve focused on stabilizing and rebuilding our organization — securing a new location, working with a supportive landlord, building partnerships, and exploring new educational opportunities. We’re also looking to open our space to other artists who may be seeking a unique, one-off performance venue. It’s been a busy and productive period, but there’s still much work ahead.

As a four-person operational board, our energy has been dedicated to keeping things running smoothly, cleaning up operations, and planning for growth. The reality is that our current programming does not yet cover our operational costs. While we’ve seen success in some areas, our music programs haven’t had as much uptake as we hoped. In the months ahead, we’ll be working on better marketing our programs to attract more youth and continuing to ensure that financial barriers don’t prevent any child from participating. We will also be sending out a community survey to learn more about our community needs, wants and pain points with accessing our services. Please look for that, and please provide honest feedback – we can only improve if we know what our families are looking for from our programming and what isn’t working. 

To help us move forward, we’re putting out a call for volunteers to join committees in areas such as:

• Marketing and Events

• Fundraising and Sponsorship

• HR, Accounting, and Legal Support

These committees will provide recommendations to the board and play a vital role in helping us strengthen our organization. While we recognize that everyone is very busy in their day-to-day, we can not grow the way that we are hoping to if we are unable to get more ideas, thoughts and hands around the table. 

We continue to apply for grants to help cover the costs of our shows, but we’re also seeking local sponsors. To give you an idea, the performance rights alone for a show can cost over $2,000, not including other production expenses. We do this because we truly believe in the transformative value of theatre: the confidence, collaboration, creativity, and emotional growth that come from being part of a live production are irreplaceable. The solution isn’t to scale back these opportunities but to connect with more community members who share our belief in their value.Sponsorship doesn’t have to be a huge monetary contribution, even contributions of $100 can get your name on our sponsorship list. If you do know of anyone who may want to contribute to bringing community theatre performances to life, please connect them with us and we can talk to them about what sponsorship could look like for them! 

As part of rebuilding, we’ll be asking families to help source costumes from home and lend items for productions when possible, as we no longer have space to store large prop inventories. Your support in this area makes a big difference and helps us continue offering high-quality, meaningful experiences for youth.

Fundraising & Community Engagement

Our Halloween Haunted House was a big hit, a fun, spooky, theatre themed and community-filled night! We raised $900, and while some of that covered staff time and materials, it was a meaningful net win for donations and community connection. We’re looking for more opportunities like this in the future, so if you have ideas for events or collaborations, we’d love to hear them.

Upcoming Events

Coffee House – November 18 6:30 to 8 p.m.A relaxed evening for students to share a song, monologue, or poem — whether it’s something they’re proud of or a piece they’d like feedback on. Enjoy coffee, hot chocolate, and treats while celebrating the creativity of our youth!

Holiday Showcase – December 12–13Join us as we connect with Hermey and the Land of Misfit Toys in our holiday production of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! This beloved 1964 stop-motion classic — featuring Hermey the elf who dreams of being a dentist and the beloved Yeti — has captured hearts for generations, reminding us all that everyone has something special to offer. Tickets go on sale November 8, and we can’t wait to share this whimsical show with the community. We are looking for families to help volunteer leading up to and the days of the show. You can take a look at what we need and can sign up to volunteer here.

Rudolph Screening – November 28 6:30-7:30To get into the holiday spirit, we’ll be hosting a family-friendly screening of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! Youth can see the characters they’ll soon bring to life on stage while enjoying hot chocolate and festive treats. Admission is by donation, and please bring cash or etransfer to pay for some festive treats. 

Uptown Sparkles – December 5Our APCO crew will be caroling at Uptown Sparkles, spreading joy and holiday cheer! Head uptown to enjoy the twinkling lights and magic of the season, and be sure to say hi when you hear familiar tunes floating through the streets!

Program Updates

Registrations remain open!We still have space in some classes and are keeping registration open until February. Depending on interest, we may offer more classes for children aged 7 to 11. After February, our focus turns fully to the year-end showcase. If your child has a friend who’s been thinking about joining, invite them to come for a trial class before registration closes! 

March Break Camps – Opening January 5Mark your calendars — registration for our March Break camps opens January 5!

In Closing

Thank you all for your continued support and for reading all the way through. We know this was a long update, but that’s because there’s so much good work happening all thanks to our dedicated staff, our partners, and most importantly, our amazing youth.

The youth’s enthusiasm, camaraderie and our community’s encouragement fuels everything we do. Community is at the heart of it all, and together, we’re helping children shine, both on and off the stage.

With gratitude,

Sara, Andrea, Carrie and Charles