Liverpool artist, community volunteer takes helm of Astor Theatre
Velta Vikmanis is the new executive director of Liverpool’s Astor Theatre. (Rick Conrad)
Liverpool’s Astor Theatre has a new executive director.
Velta Vikmanis took over the job on Oct. 1, part of a new management team at the historic theatre.
“As a practising artist myself, I know the significance and the importance of the Astor,” she said in an interview Thursday.
“It carries a tremendous history in the community. And having had a show here myself, and then having the pleasure of stepping onto the board earlier this year, it just seemed like my skill sets from health-care administration and operations experience really lends itself to what the Astor needs in this moment. And so I was happy to step up and just say, ‘Yeah, I’m willing to give it a go.’”
Lori Smyth, who had been the Astor’s box office manager, will take on a new role as theatre manager.
Joe Lyndon will look after the theatre’s technical needs, including light and sound for shows.
Vikmanis moved to Liverpool with her husband in 2021 and has been actively involved in the community since. She is a volunteer and former board member at QCCR, and a volunteer at Queens Manor. Before she took the job as the Astor’s executive director, she was a member of the Astor Theatre Society board.
She also had an exhibition of her work at the theatre in May 2024.
“Right now, we have a great synergy between the board and the staff here at the Astor, and we’re really hoping to capitalize on that momentum as we move forward, so that we can just continue building and moving the Astor forward into the next decades.”
Katy Hopkins had been the theatre’s manager of operations for many years until she resigned in September.
In a news release announcing Vikmanis’s appointment, chairman Eric Goulden thanked Hopkins for her “dedication and support for the Astor”.
“My first main priority,” Vikmanis says, “is to continue with all of the variety of programming that Katie Hopkins, the previous general manager, had put into place and making sure that all of those artists are honoured, their contracts are honoured and that patrons can continue to come into the theatre uninterrupted.”
Vikmanis said she wants to continue the entertainment mix that the Astor has been offering, from popular tribute band shows to movies to live theatre. And she wants to continue to welcome community groups to use the Astor space, and expand on some of the things happening there now.
She said she wants to explore showing a livestream on the theatre’s big screen of some performances from New York’s Metropolitan Opera.
And she’d like to give new artists more opportunities to exhibit at the Astor.
“I really do feel like I have put my best foot forward in the community. Ever since I arrived here, I’m really committed to being a resource and a support within our community. So the relationships that I’ve already established throughout the community, I hope will help and support all that’s going on within the theatre and just further enhance that momentum that we seem to have going right now.”
Goulden also announced on the news release that Easton Goodwin, who has appeared in various Astor productions, has been hired as a theatre staff member.
The Astor is close to launching its new website. And it’s been working with the Region of Queens, which owns the building, to improve the building’s accessibility.
In April, the theatre secured a five-year, $500,000 funding commitment from the J&W Murphy Foundation to help beef up its programs and promotion.
CURRENT ASTOR THEATRE SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS
- Eric Goulden, Chair
- Lynn Cochrane, Vice-Chair
- Loris Azzano, Treasurer
- Star Donovan, Director
- Patricia Simms, Director
- Dan Williams, Director
Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com
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