HIGHLAND ARTS THEATRE

ABOUT US

Highland Arts Theatre, or "The HAT" as it's affectionately called, is the name of a performance venue in downtown Sydney, Nova Scotia, formerly the home of St. Andrew's Church. When the church was decommissioned in 2013, a team stepped up to transform the beloved historical building into a state-of-the-art centre for arts and culture. The venue officially re-opened in June 2014 with an original musical comedy: "The Wakowski Brothers". 

While the venue is available for rent and has hosted many of Cape Breton's finest in the fields of music and dance, it is our mandate to create a year-round, professional theatrical presence in downtown Sydney, producing and presenting quality productions with a special emphasis on Cape Breton artists, stories, and songs.

The Highland Arts Theatre Association is a non-profit organization registered under the Societies Act of Nova Scotia (3285136) and a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency (82383 3181 RR0001.)

In June 2016, the HAT became a Professional Member of Theatre Nova Scotia.

In 2018, the HAT became a member of the Sydney & Area Chamber of Commerce.

In 2019, we officially launched the HAT Academy, a training program for emerging and professional artists ages 5 to seniors. We currently offer 20 distinct programs.

In 2020, we piloted our brand new operating model: Radical Access - a crowd-sourcing model that allows us to offer all Mainstage Productions free of charge (find out more here).

Our productions have toured to Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and mainland Nova Scotia and we have conducted partnerships and co-productions with Neptune Theatre, the Savoy Theatre, Sacred Heart Downtown, Eastern Front Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, Festival Antigonish, The Confederation Centre for the Arts, the 2023 Canada Games, and the Chester Playhouse.

AWARDS

At the 2016 Sydney and Area Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Business Awards, the Highland Arts Theatre was awarded the Arts & Entertainment Award, the People's Choice for Favourite Arts and Culture Experience, and Artistic Director Wesley J. Colford was awarded the Jack Yazer Young Entrepreneur of the Year. 

Recently, we were nominated for “Venue of the Year” in the 2018 Music Nova Scotia Industry Awards and “Business of the Year” in the Sydney Chamber of Commerce Excellence Awards.

In 2019 we won the “Community Impact Award” and the People’s Choice Award for “Favourite Thing to Do/Experience in the CBRM” at the 30th annual Excellence in Business Awards. In 2020 we won the “Creative Community Impact Award” from Arts Nova Scotia.

In December 2020, our Artistic & Executive Director, Wesley Colford, was named one of the Globe & Mail’s “Canadian Arts Heroes of 2020”.

In 2022 we were nominated for 14 Merritt Awards, winning 3 for Outstanding Independent Production, Outstanding Choreography, and Outstanding Costumes.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Marybeth MacDonald
President

Russell Colman
Vice-President

Barbara Boyd
Treasurer

Kim Sadler
Secretary

Michael Cormier

Anna Manley

Erika Shea

Peter Steele

Anju Virick

Sandra Virick

ABOUT THE BUILDING

St. Andrew's United Church , started in 1910 and completed in 1911, was the third church built by the Sydney and Mira Presbyterian congregation, originating from 1852. The congregations outgrew the two previous Sydney churches, and so St. Andrew's was built to contain 1,000 people for services.

The pastor at that time, Rev. Dr. John Pringle travelled to Toronto and met with architects Curry and Sparling to develop the plans for the church. Constucted by Rhodes and Curry Company using red brick from Mira, a local brickyard, the cost was $62,945. The 3,000 pipe, pipe organ made by the famous Casavant Frères in Quebec and engraved 10 bell chimes installed at that time, are still in use today.

Architecturally, the end result was a beautiful house of worship, with impressive towers, bells chiming on Sundays and the steadfast permanence of the Gothic Revival style, rare within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.