The St. Lawrence Shakespeare festival received a $19,900 funding boost from the Grenville Community Futures Development Corporation and the Eastern Ontario Development Program. GCFDC Chairman Jim Fisher and MP Gord Brown presented the cheque to the festival’s artistic director Ian Farthing. Photo by Tim Ruhnke, courtesy the Prescott Journal.

Prescott  — Today, Gord Brown, Member of Parliament for Leeds–Grenville, joined Jim Fisher, Chairman of the Grenville Community Futures Development Corporation (GCFDC), to present the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Theatrical Company with an investment of $19,900 through GCFDC’s Community Economic Development funding program and the Eastern Ontario Development Program (EODP). 

The funding will support costs directly associated with the staging of “Trouble on Dibble Street”, a special production commemorating the Town of Prescott’s Bicentennial in 2010.  Funding will also support the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Theatrical Company’s enhanced marketing efforts for the 2010 season.

“GCFDC is committed to strengthening tourism development.  We are pleased to be supporting the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Theatrical Company’s commitment to building the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival into a premier summer attraction in Eastern Ontario”, stated Jim Fisher, Chairman, Grenville Community Futures Development Corporation. 

“The Government of Canada recognizes the important role that community based organizations play in strengthening the economy of rural communities,” stated Mr. Brown. “We are proud to support Community Futures Development Corporations who in turn support volunteer-led organizations in their efforts to grow and diversify the local economy.”

GCFDC is a community-based, non-profit corporation funded by the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, for the purposes of delivering community economic development assistance, business financing and business counselling services to new and existing businesses and organizations in Grenville County. 
The Eastern Ontario Development Program promotes socio-economic development in Eastern Ontario by creating, building and developing the necessary conditions to increase business and employment opportunities in the area. The EODP assists economic renewal in five priority areas: business and community development; skills development; access to capital; retention and attraction of youth; and technological enhancements.  Funding and support of the EODP is funded by the Government of Canada, through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario and delivered via the Community Futures Development Corporations (CFDCs) located throughout Eastern Ontario.

For information on GCFDC and EODP, visit www.grenvillecfdc.com.  For more information on The St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, visit www.stlawrenceshakespeare.ca.