Richardson donates $25,000 to Anne Portnuff Theatre

The user groups of the Anne Portnuff theatre are working hard to replace the seats in the theatre as part of the Anne Portnuff Theatre revitalization campaign. The Richardson Foundation is playing a large part in that revitalization project, donating $25,000 to the seats.
Al Wilhelm, operations manager for Richardson Oilseeds Processing in Yorkton, says that they knew the value of installing new chairs in the Anne Portnuff from personal experience, as his children and those of his co-presenter, Brent Woloshyn, Director of Operations, go to school at the Yorkton Regional High School and were on stage at the Anne Portnuff for music and dance festivals.
“Part of the foundation’s belief is to invest in the communities where their customers live, where their employees live.”
Another point in the theatre’s favor was that while the seats need to be replaced, they’re not as bad as you might expect from 50 year old chairs. To Wilhelm, it shows that the theatre is taken care of very well.
Wilhelm sees the latest donation as part of Richardson’s overall commitment to the communities where they operate.
“In 2016, the Richardson Foundation invested $1.45 million dollars in communities across Canada. That was 72 communities across Canada, and 39 of those communities were in Saskatchewan alone. That just tells you the strength of the communities in Saskatchewan they’re investing in.”
Richardson’s donation takes the project to $145,228, almost half-way to their ultimate goal of $300,000. Tonya Vermette with the Yorkton Arts Council hopes that the Richardson Foundation’s donation inspires others to contribute to the program and help them reach their goal of $300,000 by May 2018.
“The arts are such an important part of keeping a community vibrant... This way, the community can help out, help restore and make this theatre more comfortable for years to come.”