Donor Profile: Max Wyman, OC.- Curators Circle Member

December 14, 2010

By any standards, the recent growth of PuSh has been remarkable. In a bad-news arts economy, PuSh has bucked the trend, with healthy audiences, a balanced budget, organizational stability and a financial reserve that will allow the commissioning and creation of the new work that is at the heart of the PuSh identity.

The coming season, with its link to the city’s 125th anniversary through the theme of “cityness” (interpreted as only PuSh’s curators know how), promises to be the most stimulating PuSh yet. And some of the planned programming for 2012 and beyond has unprecedented scope and scale.

You get the sense that the world is PuSh’s oyster right now. Many of us see this as the time for a significant step forward for PuSh in solidifying its standing as one of the premier identifying events of the Vancouver season, and as a significant contributor to the imaginative vitality and cultural texture of the city, the province and the country.

But we know that eagerness to move forward has to be tempered by practicality. It would be fatally easy to allow ambition to overstep pragmatism. Tall buildings need deep and solid foundations. If PuSh is to become all it can be, it must have a sturdy base of infrastructure – all the nuts and bolts of resources and  personnel that go into the functioning of any successful enterprise.

In other words, we can only grow healthily if we grow according to our means. Now is the time for PuSh to reinforce its resources in order to strengthen and consolidate its infrastructure: not exactly sexy stuff, I know, but essential if we are to see the festival fulfil its marvellous potential as a world leader in the production of provocative and surprising adventures in blended theatre.

That is why I recently stepped up to the top donor sector of the PuSh Patrons Circle – because I believe in the value of what PuSh does and I want to help push PuSh onto its next level of achievement. We are more grateful than you know for the support you have already given us. I invite you now to consider stepping up a level yourself, or even joining me in the Curators Circle. Together we can give PuSh the solid footing it needs to continue to make the excitement happen.

Thank you again for all that you do for PuSh.

Max Wyman, OC
President of the Board of Directors