Winds of Change to reconsider merger with Astor Theatre

The Winds of Change theatre group is holding a meeting on April 20 to discuss whether to end its year-long merger with Liverpool’s Astor Theatre.

Nick Moase, acting chairman of the Winds of Change, said in an interview Wednesday that he called the meeting in response to concerns about recent controversy around the Astor. Moase is also the technical director for QCCR.

“I really want to make sure the community either wants to rescind this motion to become a part of the Astor Theatre and re-form as a society or if we are still comfortable going ahead and finishing up the merger with the Astor Theatre.”

Winds of Change Dramatic Society members voted to merge with the Astor Theatre Society in February 2023. The idea was that the group would become a subcommittee of the Astor and bring along its $29,000 legacy fund to be used for theatrical productions at the theatre.

But recently, members and former members of the group wanted to re-examine the relationship. Ashley-Rose Goodwin resigned as the Astor’s associate artistic director this March, shortly after the wrap of the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies. Goodwin was also the director of that show.

After her resignation, a group of people lobbed several accusations about how the Astor was being run. One of them was a concern about what would happen to Winds of Change and its legacy fund.

“I do want to make it clear, some of the concern that came out of the community was that the Astor took off with our money after the Follies. And that’s not the case,” Moase says.

“I have assurances from the operations manager of the theatre that the money was replenished to what it was. So the Follies up to and just after the production, actually I think was a success in terms of the merger. The name was used properly, the money was used properly, we didn’t have to pay rental for the space.”

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The idea of Winds of Change merging with the Astor had been discussed for years. 

Moase says the group’s legacy fund was kept in a separate line item on the Astor balance sheet and used for paying expenses in mounting productions at the theatre, such as costumes, sets and securing rights to plays. The Astor would then reimburse the fund from ticket sales and pocket any profit.

The Winds of Change would benefit by no longer having the expenses of running a non-profit society, such as insurance and renting the Astor for its productions.

After the decision to merge with the Astor, the Winds of Change Society stopped operating as a separate entity. It has no bank account, and it is not a recognized society on the Nova Scotia’s Registry of Joint Stock Companies.

Moase says it’s not a problem to relist the society with the registry, if the group’s membership decides to rescind the merger with the Astor.

“This meeting, it is the community telling us, the Winds of Change, what they want. And if they want to re-form as a society, get some names of people who are interested in joining, and then we start the process of getting everything squared away with the joint stocks … and then once that’s done we need to open a bank account again, we need to get directors insurance again. Then we can start (signing up) official members, making motions and getting back to the process of making plays at the Astor.”

Moase says that he planned to work on the terms of reference to complete the merger after Follies was over. 

“The merger it’s been a little slow, it has been on my shoulders and due to some things going on in my own personal life, and the fact that I was the lead set designer and builder for Follies, things have been a bit slow so we hadn’t finished all of the merger process, the terms of reference, that sort of thing.”

He says the Astor board has told him they would like to continue with the merger. But that depends on what is decided at the April 20 Winds of Change meeting.

Moase said he also wanted to address two other issues that arose after Goodwin resigned and Follies wrapped.

Some members were upset that the Astor would not pay for a party at the Liverpool Curling Club. And they were irked that the Astor forgot to mention and thank the Follies cast and crew in its monthly newsletter, sent April 2. 

“In isolation they’re minor, but as a part of the whole of what’s going on, people have really latched on to it a bit,” Moase said.

“I do think they are things we can work through. This is our first production as a sub-committee under the Astor. Of course we’re going to have things we need to iron out.

“And if you look at the framework that we’ve drawn up for our merger, we never talked about cast parties. So it’s something that we’ve usually had in the past, we’ve usually funded out of our profits that we made out of the shows, but we never mentioned it to the Astor that this is what we do. Again, I think this is something we could have overcome in the future.”

When asked if it could be seen as an honest mistake, he said: “In my view, it is.”

Jerri Southcott took over as the Astor’s executive director on Feb. 5. In a special newsletter to subscribers on April 3, she issued her “sincerest apologies” for the omission of Follies in the newsletter the day before.

“This oversight was in no way intentional, and I want to take this opportunity to express my deepest regret for any disappointment or frustration it may have caused. The dedication and talent of everyone involved in Follies deserved to be celebrated and recognized, and I am truly sorry for failing to do so.”

As for the cast party, Southcott says her personal philosophy is that she doesn’t believe it was an appropriate way to spend donated money, and that in her experience with non-profits, she prefers to see most of the money returned to the organization.

She says she consulted with the board at the time. Because she is new in the job, she says, she hasn’t been making any significant decisions without consulting them first.

Moase says he doesn’t know if he will continue on the board of the Winds of Change. He says he believes the merger with the Astor is still worth pursuing.

“I really have to see how this meeting goes and see how the community feels. I have to admit, everything that’s been going on, it’s caught me off guard. I didn’t expect it and I’ve had trouble keeping up with everything that’s been going on.

“I don’t know what the sentiment is. I’m not even sure what people think of me as part of this because i’ve been working on this merger for so long. Nobody’s messaged me or has messaged me very little directly to confront me about any problems. I genuinely don’t know what direction we’re going, so I really have to see what happens at that meeting.”

The Winds of Change meeting is scheduled for Sat., April 20 at 1 p.m. at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com