A volunteer driven charity dedicated to providing affordable housing for qualifying senior Canadian professional artists and arts associates

PAL (Professional Arts Lodge) Stratford comes to the aid of Canada’s great storytellers living in the Stratford, Ontario community. Our heritage house in the heart of this vibrant, artistic city holds five suites for our residents. This beautiful home helps us on our mission to provide safe affordable housing to qualifying senior Canadian professional artists and arts associates

A registered charity in Canada (86363 2881 RR0001), PAL Stratford is governed by an elected board of directors.

Ours is one of eight PAL chapters, and together we serve thousands of creative, passionate Canadians.

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Our History in Stratford

It’s October 1999 and West Side Story was the big hit of the Stratford Festival season. While the crews at the festival stage were packing up, a new project was beginning nearby.

Tom Patterson, Stratford Festival Founder and Herbert Whittaker, Critic Emeritus for the Globe and Mail, joined forces with an idea. They would spearhead the creation of PAL Stratford, inspired by the Toronto project only a 90 minute drive away.

They recognized part of the festival’s legacy was an aging theatre and arts community. Those storytellers wished to continue living in and around Stratford alongside their colleagues and friends. And so, with an aim to give back, PAL Stratford was born.

Tom Patterson

Herbert Whittaker

Building affordable housing certainly didn’t come easy. PAL Stratford chased after a plethora of opportunities: twice with different owners of 500 Ontario Street, west of the Arden Park Hotel. Then, with the owner of 210 Water Street, before considering the old Falstaff School when it lay vacant. In 2005, full of hope, we made a bid to acquire city-owned property on Queensland Drive. Sadly, the effort was unsuccessful. At every opportunity, insurmountable obstacles continued to appear.

The show however, must go on.

In 2012, after a major fundraising campaign, we purchased a stunning heritage home at 101 Brunswick Street. After converting the building into five units of affordable housing, the first resident began unpacking in February, 2013. Today, each of the homes is occupied but we have not stopped planning to help even more.

With so many local artists in need, PAL Stratford continues to work on expanding housing and services for Canada’s great storytellers.

True to Tom’s vision, PAL Stratford’s long term goal is to provide affordable, congenial housing for every valued member of the Stratford professional arts community.

The two words that come directly to mind when I reflect on my place (and life) at PAL are fortunate and grateful, and I am both. PAL presented itself to me at exactly the right time. I could continue to work and perform while supporting myself on the typically low and sporadic income familiar to many artists. The aesthetic and ambiance of this heritage house easily lent itself to becoming my “home.”

S.

PAL Stratford Resident

Leave a Legacy in Stratford with PAL

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Our Board of Directors

Ian Deakin

Chair

Mr. Deakin is a veteran of the Canadian Stage. 13 Seasons at the Stratford Festival , many roles in regional theatres across the country, as well as appearances on Broadway, Off Broadway, and the Chicago Shakespeare Festival have been some of the highlights of his long career. He has credits as well in television, radio, and commercials. He is married to Costume Designer Bonnie Deakin, and has lived in Stratford for over 35 years.

Alyson Kent

Vice Chair

Alyson began her career in finance and investments over twenty-five years ago, after completing a BA and MA in Canadian History at the University of Victoria. She is now a Financial Planner with Vancea Financial Group.

An active volunteer in her community, Alyson has a special interest in arts and heritage. From 2010 through 2018 Alyson served as Trustee for the City of Stratford on the Avon Maitland District School Board. She is looking forward to helping advance the work of PAL in Stratford.

Leslie Jost

Treasurer

Leslie’s roles include classical soprano, stage manager, and bookkeeper/tax specialist. Four seasons with the Stratford Festival, 1980 as a singer, and 2005-2007 in stage management were highlights. She has performed/stage managed in Canada, the US, and Italy. Since completing accounting studies at the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business and CGA in 2015 she’s been preparing financial statements and tax returns. Leslie enjoys arts administration and is also treasurer for INNERchamber Inc. She is happy to support PAL’s work and its mission to provide essential support and quality of life for Stratford’s aging artists.

Carmen Grant

Originally from Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Carmen Grant has worked in theatres all over Canada, and has lived in Stratford since 2010.

As a member of the Stratford Festival acting company, she was seen in Richard III, Titus Andronicus, The Matchmaker, Much Ado About Nothing, Mary Stuart, Measure for Measure, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, King John, and Mother Courage and Her Children.

In 2020, Carmen expanded her education, and now runs a private counselling practice, Bird’s Nest Listening Services.

You might also encounter Carmen at Fanfare Books, and FAWN fashion; two local, independent businesses.

Peggy Coffey

Peggy Coffey makes her home in Stratford with her husband Robert King. Peggy began her theatrical career in 1977 at The Canadian Mime Theatre. Selected credits include: Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival, CanStage, The Grand Theatre, Blyth Festival, Lighthouse Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Blue Water Festival, Theatre Passe Muraille, National Arts Centre, Harley Dog Productions, Essential Collective Theatre, Here For Now, Alternative Theatre Works. Peggy is a founding member of Alternative Theatre Works in Stratford. She has been an instructor at St. Clair College Musical Theatre Program, Sheridan College, Stratford Festival Summer Programs, Stratford Festival Birmingham Conservatory. For over 20 years Peggy was an ‘artist in the classroom’ with The Foundation for Enriching Education creating drama workshops for Elementary and Secondary Schools in Huron Perth. Peggy co-founded Springworks Indie Theatre and Arts Festival in 2011. She is active in her community and is the proud recipient of 3 Guthrie Awards from the Stratford Festival and was named ‘Woman of the Year in Arts and Culture 2013’ Optimism Place. Peggy is pleased to serve on the board of PAL Stratford.

Jane Johanson

Jane is thrilled to be a resident of Stratford as of 2021. It is now the place she calls home. A member of the Acting community for over 40 years, Jane has graced the stages of The Shaw Festival, Canadian Stage in Toronto, across Canada on Tours – with shows too numerous to mention. A choreographer, teacher, musical theatre performer, and pilates instructor, being creative has always been Jane’s happy place. By living here now, Jane is enjoying work/life balance and a big part of that is being on the board of PAL Stratford.

Fay Brotherston

Administrator

Fay is an avid hobbyist of various fibre arts including knitting and sewing, and most recently spinning and weaving. She has supported the Board of Directors at PAL Stratford since 2023.

Equity Diversity & Inclusivity

Our Stratford chapter of PAL Canada recognizes that growth and change are required to serve the diversity of artists and artisans in our community. We open our tent to all members of the arts community, those who support PAL’s mission, and the wider community in which we live and work. We are committed to fair and equal access to membership and leadership regardless of age, ethnicity, religion, gender orientation, or ability.

Our organization stands in solidarity with Black/Indigenous/People of Colour, people of all abilities, and people of all gender identifications.

We recognize and acknowledge that Stratford sits on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, the Haudensaunee Confederacy, the Wendat, and the Neutrals who share their ancestral lands with us under The Dish with One Spoon Treaty. We recognize and deeply appreciate their historic connection to this place. We thank all the generations of people who have taken care of this land for thousands of years.

We also recognize and acknowledge the contributions that Métis, Inuit, and other Indigenous peoples have made in shaping and strengthening this community, and our province and country as a whole.

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