The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts

Since its birth 47 years ago as the O’Keefe Centre, Toronto’s Sony Centre for the Performing Arts has a long and storied history as one of the premiere venues for live entertainment in North America. But its recent rebranding, and Sony’s sponsorship of this jewel, speaks volumes about Toronto’s advantage over other North American cities for investors in the cultural sector.

In a word, it’s all about diversity.

Dan Brambilla, CEO of the Sony Centre, says this was clearly the value-added in their relationship with the performing arts venue. As large entertainment corporations adjust to the new realities of the “long tail” economy – where targeted groups get into smaller niches and the variety of mass marketed product diminishes – Sony saw a clear advantage in its relationship with a performing arts venue.

"No other entertainment market in North America has this city’s diversity, that’s the reality,” Brambilla says. The Sony Centre’s ambitious programming and marketing strategy is aimed at engaging with that diversity. “We are a city of minorities, and we found we have got instant traction by reaching out to our communities,” Brambilla adds, noting the centre had never made such inroads before, particularly with the South Asian and the African Canadian communities.

The Sony Centre is part of an ambitious redevelopment plan for the area, approved by the Toronto City Council in 2006, dubbed the Arts and Heritage Awareness Centre, which will comprise five interlocking cultural and entertainment attractions:

  • Mainstage – for live attractions from around the world;
  • ArtsLab – a facility to explore, every 3 months, a different culture’s contributions in fine arts, music, drama, dance, literature, architecture and the moving image;
  • Cyberspace – gamers compete using educational games;
  • “TV Dinner”: a destination experience for dining and watching television shows from a variety of cultures, and
  • CityLink: an entertainment portal that promotes attractions in the city and province, offering ticketing and concierge services.

Rising above all will be a 49-story residential tower, designed by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, to complement the existing structure of the centre.

For more information on tourism investment opportunities throughout Ontario, please visit: www.investinontario.com/tourism/regionalinvest.asp.