Sudbury’s Place des Arts provides an update on its third anniversary

As it marks its third anniversary, Place des Arts officials updated city council Tuesday night about its finances, accomplishments and future plans.

Place Des Arts in Sudbury is an arts and cultural gathering place for the whole community.

As it marks its third anniversary, officials shared an update to city council Tuesday night about the non-profit’s finances, accomplishments and future plans.

Place des Arts opened its doors in 2022. After facing a $700,000 operational deficit, officials said it will break even this year.

“Place des Arts is on a good footing right now,” said executive director Denis Bertrand.

“We are still a startup business but we have managed to meet a lot of initial challenges of starting a business. We had a deficit in our first year and now we are in our third year and we are eliminating that deficit.”

Built as part of the Downtown Sudbury Master Plan, the city provided $5 million to help fund the $30 million building.

“We have an estimated $15 million annual impact,” said deputy executive director Lisa Breton.

“Since our opening, that is $45 million that we have generated into the downtown core.”

“Right now, about 40,000 people come to Place des Arts (each year),” Bertrand added.

“Fifty per cent of our clientele is English speaking. So for people that think Place des Arts is a francophone-only venue, that is absolutely not true.”

The city provides annual operating grants to Place des Arts, including $260,000 in 2025, which is eight per cent of the non-profit’s total revenue.

• Download the CTV News app now
• Get local breaking news alerts

“What’s important about that is that that money acts as leverage,” Bertrand said.

“It allows us to knock on doors of the feds, of the province, and to tell them that we have got this project. We are supported by our city -- are you interested in supporting us, as well?”

Right now, Place des Arts is working on developing an artistic and cultural professionalization institute. The mission would be to help people involved in arts and culture better manage their business or career.

Since it opened, Place des Arts has won eight provincial and international architectural awards for the state-of-the-art design of the building.