From $80K to $1M: Benefit celebrates success at The Guild

The Guild in Charlottetown will hold its fifth annual Guild It and They Will Come fundraiser Monday night with a much more promising future than what it faced at the first event.

Five years ago The Guild, a small performance venue and art gallery, was in the middle of a winter shutdown due to financial difficulties, and there were concerns it would not survive.

• The Guild to reopen next week
• The Guild arts space turns around its fortunes after nearly closing

The fundraiser was launched to help keep The Guild going, but the organization has turned itself around in other ways as well.

"We were generating about $80,000 a year of revenue through our box office. This year I'm really happy to say that we've hit the million dollar mark," said executive director Alanna Jankov.

'A lot of economic impact'

"That's a lot of economic impact into the city of Charlottetown."

Jankov credits the partnership with the Anne and Gilbert: The Musical production for much of that success, not just for the direct financial benefit, but also for raising the profile of the theatre.

Monday's show features Irish Mythen, Luka Hall, Aaron Crane, Lori Linkletter, Nora Mallet, Julien Kitson, Adam Brazier, Melissa Kramer and Ava & Lily Rashed. Rob MacDonald and Graham Putnam are the hosts.

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