World-class theatre — in the heart of Niagara wine country.
Founded in 1962, the Shaw Festival is a repertory theatre company, one of North America’s five leading theatre companies and Niagara’s largest cultural charity. The Shaw employs 600 artists, artisans and arts workers making it one of Niagara's 20 largest employers. Under Tim Carroll, Artistic Director and Tim Jennings, Executive Director, as co-CEOs since 2017, our mission has been to create and deepen connections within our various communities and foster one of the world’s leading classical theatre ensembles, one of only a handful of core repertory ensembles left in the English-speaking world.
Over their joint tenure The Shaw has lengthened its season through December with holiday programming and occasional special presentations in February or March. We present 10-14 productions each season, with more than 800 performances across multiple theatres and a further 5,000+ additional classes, outreach events and activities to support those performances, to a combined audience of 330,000.
These numbers demonstrate our commitment to our community - particularly students, emerging artists, and seniors. The Shaw is also committed to audience diversity and accessibility, and the current leadership team has initiated a significant number of new programs to achieve this.
The Shaw Festival is a place where people who are curious about the world gather to share the unique experience of live theatre. Our vision is about bringing audiences closer to the art and making The Shaw a place everyone can belong. We celebrate the distinctive nature of theatre to create real human connection.
That connection and sense of community are more important now than ever. Our charitable purpose is to advance appreciation of the arts, specifically theatre, as a basic human need.