Foster Festival in the Community
We are deeply invested in our community here in St Catharines. Find out more about the Foster Festival community outreach programs below.
The Foster Festival is deeply committed to the City of St. Catharines’ CompassionateSTC initiative. We believe that everyone deserves to have access to the arts.
Local Hero Program
Originally funded by a seed grant from the Wise Guys Charity Fund in 2017, The Foster Festival’s Local Hero program focuses on providing complimentary tickets to any Foster Festival performance to members of our community who may not be able to attend otherwise due to social or economic barriers.
With the support from our incredible community partners, The Foster Festival has provided over 600 complimentary tickets to our shows to clients of Bethlehem Housing and Support Services, the Walker Family Cancer Centre and the Ozanam Centre over the past 5 years.
Youth Arts Programs
We have designed and offer tailor-made extracurricular arts enrichment experiences in partnership with other Not-for-Profits across Niagara.
Our Youth Arts Programs have reached a wide assortment of children and youth. In partnership with The Kristen French Child Advocacy Centre the Foster Festival runs 18 weeks of arts enrichment programming that focuses on using creativity as a vehicle to further recovery from impacts of child abuse, and is intended to help youth better understand themselves & learn the power of creative self-expression. This is achieved through two separate programs: the Teen Creative Program (aged 15-17) and the Cathy’s Kids Program (aged 9-11).
The Foster Festival has also been able to double programming to meet the demands for arts enrichment at The Niagara Children’s Centre through the generosity of The Rotary Club of St. Catharines. The Foster Festival Drama Club now provides almost 100 hours of free arts enrichment throughout the year to Niagara’s children and youth and contracts more than 20 regional artists in the delivery of this arts enrichment programming.
