Nearly 100 people gathered at Trent University’s downtown campus Catharine Parr Traill College to celebrate the grand opening of its new outdoor performance space, The Jalyn Bennett Amphitheatre, on May 31.
Dr. Michael Eamon, college principal of Traill College, initially had the idea to turn the space into a three-season outdoor amphitheatre after seeing that the courtyard at Traill College was in need of renovations.
“That center courtyard of Traill College was getting a little tired,” said Dr. Eamon. “The idea of an amphitheatre came to me. There was a natural hill there, and people had, in some ways, done performances and things there informally. It just seemed like a natural space to have a formalized performance area.”
Construction of the amphitheatre is complete but the project is not finished. So far, the project has cost over $1 million dollars, with $500 000 coming from the federal government and the Department of Canadian Heritage from their Canada Cultural Spaces Fund.
The seed money for the amphitheatre came from the estate of Jalynn Bennett, former chair of the Trent University Board of Governors, whom the amphitheatre was named after. Bennett’s estate offered up funding for Trent University to do something “empowering,” said Eamon.
The grand opening event was the first time the amphitheatre was used as a performance space, featuring performances from local artists such as Unity, 4th Line Theatre, Anthony Varahidis, Mary Kate Edwards, Megan Murphy and Kate Suhr.
The space, as required by the grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage, must be available for both amateur and professional use. Eamon and Traill College are working with a number of local performance groups who plan to use the amphitheatre for professional, ticketed events.
Going forward, Eamon is excited to see how to community will use the amphitheatre.
“Build great spaces. Don’t overprogram," he said. "The students – the community – will program those spaces and wonderful things will happen.”
Listen to the story below: