Theatre Cares Vancouver comes to an end

The organization had been raising funds and awareness for those living with HIV/AIDS since 1991

By Gail Johnson

Theatre Cares Vancouver.

Peter Huck with a tattoo of Theatre Cares Vancouver’s logo. Photo by David Cooper

THEATRE CARES VANCOUVER is closing its doors.

Theatre Cares Vancouver was an artist-driven, volunteer-based organization that united the spirit of Vancouver’s performing-arts community with its supporters to raise funds and awareness for HIV/AIDS relief and other worthy causes.

The organization had been raising funds and awareness for those living with HIV/AIDS and for vulnerable members of the community since 1991. Theatre Cares Vancouver averaged, over 33 years, to raise $25,000 per year to distribute to worthy charities. That’s roughly $825,000 raised by volunteers.

“It seems to have run its course,” says Diane Brown, who lead Theatre Cares. “Donations and volunteerism are way down, and I think sometimes these initiatives have a shelf life; it’s time for the next generation to transform it into something else.”

Brown says that Theatre Cares would not have been able to do its work without the generosity of theatre patrons and the support of local theatre organizations, most notably Bard on the Beach and the Arts Club Theatre Company.

Diane Brown.

Theatre Cares’s fundraising efforts have benefited several charities over the years, including the Coast Mental Health Foundation, Triage Emergency Services & Care Society, Camp Moomba, PEERS Vancouver, Rainbow Refugee, BC Persons With AIDS Society (later known as Positive Living BC), and AIDS Vancouver (now known as Ribbon Community Society), among others. The group’s last disbursement was to Rainbow Refugee on December 1.

“It provided some hope and relief to folks in need,” Brown says. “In the beginning, when the AIDS pandemic was raging and our performing-arts community was losing a lot of members, it was a way for us to take action and not feel powerless. Raising funds and awareness was something positive and proactive we could do.”

Theatre Cares also looked out for the health and well-being of Canadian artists by annually supporting the Actors Fund of Canada and the Performing Arts Lodge Vancouver. Its annual Theatre Cares Scholarship of $1,500 was designed to provide relief to promising emerging theatre artists in training who were struggling to continue their studies. Past recipients include Cameron Peal and Ashley Chartrand.

“We often participated in the Pride Parade,” Brown says. “One year, a bunch of us choreographed a big joyful dance number that involved umbrellas—in the middle of summer—and at the end of the dance we lined up and held our umbrellas out to the spectators in a way that they could see it spell out Theatre Cares. Folks loved it and cheered us on. It was, the whole Theatre Cares thing, an act of love.” 

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