Patrons of the Creative Arts Community

Today, NOTL is a major tourist draw with many B AND Bs, fine hotels, exquisite dining and a variety of specialty shops to suit the needs of an eclectic group of tourists. We have a world renowned theatre, beautifully restored historic sites and homes and a vibrant arts and culture scene.
But the town we know and love today has not always looked like it does now. As many communities do, Niagara has had its share of ups and downs. One of these periods of recession the Niagara Historical Museum calls “The Forgotten Years” and they explore this era of the town’s past through the eyes of artists with an exhibition running from October 15th, 2009 to April 15th, 2010.
The Queen’s Royal Hotel was once a high class accommodation that many flocked to for recreation and leisure. After its closing in 1929, NOTL saw a real economic down turn. Much like the rest of Canada, Niagara was hit by the depression. However, prosperity did not return in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
“The closing of the Queen’s Royal Hotel symbolizes the end of one tourism era in the town’s history, much like the opening of the Shaw Festival Theatre marks the modern era of tourism to Niagara,” explains Clark Bernat, Managing Director of the Museum.
This exhibition explores the craftsmen and artists of Niagara who found the town to be a wonderful place to enjoy life during this time. Their art shows us the faces, buildings and landscapes of the town. They saw the beauty when the rest of the world did not.
This group of artists was unique because their passion for art was reflected in their social life, parties among them involved making art and music. Art was not only a hobby, it was their life.
The Forgotten Years explores the work of local artists between 1929 and 1973, between the closing of the Queen’s Royal Hotel and the opening of the Shaw Festival. The Museum displays pieces from their own collection as well as from private collections in the community. Visitors can enjoy the work of Captain John Shawe, Betty Lane, Margaret Peake Benton, Esme Allen, Jacobine Jones, Carl Banke, and several others.The Museum is located at 43 Castlereagh Street in Niagara-on-the-Lake and is open daily 1pm to 5 pm from November to April, and 10am to 5pm from May through October. For more information please visit www.niagarahistorical.museum or call 905-468-3912.

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Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects announces its 2009-10 season with four compelling reasons to attend:

The Downtown Reading Series, Bedtime Stories for Grown Ups
The Beauty Queen of Leenane  (opens November 21 2009)
The Woman in Black
To Kill A Mockingbird
A season to shock your sensibilities and invoke your imagination. In theatre, as in life, we dream, we speak to one another in images and metaphor, we create, we play.  All invention begins as an act of imagination. In a world that is increasingly becoming more global, interconnected, and  more virtual in its communication, the nurturing of imagination is more than ever, a necessary endeavour. To understand our world, to know the other, we must give over to fancy, to playful engagement with the “what if?”

The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Martin McDonagh’s first play written in 1996, and in just eight days, garnered the Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright; Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play; Drama League Award for Best Play; and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play. With ensemble members Jennifer Phipps, Graeme Somerville, and Kelly Daniels, this tale about a domineering and manipulative mother who thwarts her spinster daughter’s only chance at love reveals secrets and surprises, will keep you riveted in your seat until the final moments. Often compared to Synge, Pinter, and Mamet, McDonagh has become recognized as one of this century’s most important writers. Directed by Donna Belleville, set and lighting design by Matt Flawn.
Opens Nov. 21 – Dec. 6, 2009; Previews November 19 & 20
Sullivan Mahoney Courthouse Theatre, 101 King St., St. Catharines
Tickets $15 for Seniors/Students; $25 Adults; special preview pricing; $5 eyeGo to the Arts for high school students. Please ask about Lyndesfarne’s unique ticket purchasing programs for youth, and our Chaperone Invitations.

** Patron ticket discount of 10%