More help is on the way for the Globe Theatre Regina. The downtown Regina staple is receiving $500,000 from the Conexus Credit Union to help address the Globe’s financial pressures. “It’s important for us because the Globe plays a huge role in the cultural vitality of Regina. If this place wasn’t here, it would leave a big hole and a gap in our cultural experience in the city,” Conexus CEO Celina Philpot told media Thursday. Philpot said Conexus deeply understands the theatre is part of what makes Regina special for residents and visitors, and it requires cultivation. “Our credit union’s donation to The Globe Theatre aims to preserve the city’s heritage and enrich its cultural future,” she said. Earlier this summer, the Globe asked for a $1.38 million grant from the City of Regina to help address its strained finances, saying it risked shutting down operations. The theatre-in-the-round said the issues stem from the costs of its most recent renovation, which went over budget. Regina city council unanimously approved the emergency grant in July. Cornerstone Credit Union, which later amalgamated into Conexus Credit Union, was the financial partner of the renovation project. According to Globe Theatre executive director Oz Weaver, the local staple was around $16.3 million in debt just over a month ago. But between this most recent donation, the city grant and a few other large donations, that debt has decreased to around $12 million. “We’re a big economic driver for the City of Regina. Twenty three million in economic GDP input last year — it’s a pretty big, sizable chunk of what we bring to the city and southern Saskatchewan,” Weaver said. Supporting the arts in Regina is something that’s important to Philpot. “It is the heartbeat of your community, so without it, you lack that personality, that distinction, that vibrancy. The arts are so important to creating that for your city,” she said. Globe Theatre Regina is the only permanent theatre-in-the-round in all of Canada. The Globe is continuously seeking donors, and Weaver said it’s having ongoing discussions with the Canadian government about what the federal input towards the capital campaign might look like down the road. “Once we get that capital fundraising done, we can truly spend all of our time doing what we do best, [which] is producing theatre, working with artists, working with community and our theatre school,” said Weaver. The theatre said it’s excited to continue its upward trend in ticket sales this season. The Globe sold approximately 35,000 tickets in the 2024-25 season and around 50,000 in the 2025-26 season. The first show of the 2026-27 run, Mosque Heist, is set to open on Sept. 30, along with other well-known adaptations like It’s a Wonderful Life, Les Miserables, and Evil Dead: The Musical.
