It's a Wrap with the Theatre Centre's Gift Wrap Station.

When I stopped by a couple of days ago, the office at The Theatre Centre was scattered with test runs at gift wrapping. Why? This year, for the first time ever, The Theatre Centre is going to have an actual presence at the show. Don't be fooled. The Theatre Centre is always present at City of Craft. Although the bulk of work we do with them is behind the scenes, the importance of our relationship with The Theatre Centre should not be underplayed.

So why are they offering to wrap your gifts this year? The Theatre Centre is currently raising $5 million to retrofit and move into a new, permanent space a few doors down. Of course, gift wrapping is not the focus of their capital campaign (there is municipal, federal, foundation and private funding involved), but the point is that every donation helps. Plus, the word needs to get out! So help them help you and help City of Craft move on up with them!

Read more from the Theatre Centre folks themselves:

Wrapping our way to a new home!

Have your gift wrapped by The Theatre Centre team and make a donation towards our new home!

As one of the city’s oldest performing arts collectives, it has been a long-standing ambition of The Theatre Centre to find a permanent home.

Our new home will be at 1115 Queen Street West (just a hop and a skip from the Great Hall) in a retrofitted Carnegie Library in the heart of the West Queen West neighbourhood. The adaptive reuse of this magnificent building will give us a beautiful, flexible, and accessible theatre. We will be able to support more artists and present more work. The building will house an installation space and a café, which the community will be encouraged to use as a meeting place.

The Theatre Centre has had to move ten times in its 31-year history as a result of gentrification and rising rents. In April 2010, City Council announced its decision to offer a long-term lease for the former Carnegie Library at 1115 Queen Street West to The Theatre Centre as sole tenant. The move will reinstate the former glory of the library that closed in 1964 and enable the residents of Toronto to enjoy the building once more. The Theatre Centre is extremely proud to steward the reanimation of this public space and to play a role in Toronto’s heritage conservation.

The City of Toronto has contributed $1 million towards the renovations and we have also received significant donations from the George C. Metcalf Foundation, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Canadian Heritage and from a private donor.

However, there are still funds to be raised and we will need the generous support of individual and corporate donors to meet our final goal of $5 million.

By making a donation – however large or small – you will help us find a new home.

For more information visit the website.