Stratford festival gets more than $550,000 from province

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is to getabout $553,000 from the Ontario government, most of it to boost marketing efforts.

The annual theatre festival has seen a decline in ticket sales for the 2009 season and last month announced it had put some performances on hold to save money.

On April 27, the federal government awarded $3 million to Stratford to boost marketing efforts under its new Marquee Tourism Events Program.

Now,Ontario Tourism Minister Monique Smith has announced another $500,000 to go tomarketing efforts for the festival.

"This much appreciated investment in our marketing campaign will help us give our2009 season the visibility it deserves, attracting visitors from far and wide to see these stellar productions," general director Antoni Cimolino said in a statement Friday.

An additional $52,688 of provincialmoney will go toward the creation of a one-man play titled Ever Yours, Oscar, featuring veteran actor Brian Bedford.

The show, based on the letters of British playwright Oscar Wilde, is scheduled to open June 20.

This show merited special funding because it is connected to another play Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Running the two productions together encourages tourists to stay longer,Stratford spokeswoman Ann Swerdfager said.

The 2009 festival season also includes Macbeth, West Side Story, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Julius Caesar.

The last time theprovince granted marketing money to the Shakespeare festival was after the SARS outbreak.

In 2009, therecession has cut into box office sales, especially from nearby American visitors.

The federal and provincial grants for marketing will allow the festival to double its spending on marketing this year, Swerdfager said.

The Stratford festival plans to use the money for additional marketing and promotional activities, including television ads and the creation of new tourism packages. Money will be directed to campaigns targeting Ontario, Quebec and the U.S.

The festival has an annual budget of $57 million and usually gets no more than four to five per cent of thatfrom all levels of government, according to the release.

Organizers claimthe festivalcontributes more than $145 million to Canada's gross domestic product each year by boosting tourism and hospitality industries in the area.