IMPROVISING THROUGH COVID-19 (PART 2): THE MAKING-BOX'S NEXT STEPS

This one is for long-standing friends of The Making-Box. We want to share an update with you. For those new to The Making-Box, you might want to skip this one. Perhaps try our free introductory class. 

The Making-Box was born out of a small group of weirdos who wanted to put on shows, train to be better improvisers, and spread joy to as many people as we could. As we often say, it has been an experiment that went horribly right. Over the last 8 years, The Making-Box has become a hub of positivity in Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo. We couldn’t be prouder of our role in uniting such a vibrant and welcoming collection of fun and thoughtful humans. So far, we have introduced the life-changing benefits of improv training to 10,000+ people and produced 300+ events. We created new jobs that pay people living wages and someone even got a Making-Box tattoo. 

It has been a joy. It’s also clear it’s time for a change.

With this in mind, The Making-Box has decided to step away from producing live comedy and theatre-geared classes. Instead we will focus entirely on offering individuals and organizations practical tools to foster adaptability, creativity and joy at work and in the classroom. Adaptability is LinkedIn’s #1 in-demand workplace skill and we feel we have an important part to play here. This focus aligns most deeply with our values. Although we love and appreciate the magic of live comedy, it’s time to let a new generation of organizers build on what we’ve started.

Earlier this summer we shared this news with our student community and pitched an idea: transition the community-spirit surrounding live comedy built by The Making-Box into a new co-operative non-profit theatre at 43 Cork St E. This being an entirely separate entity from The Making-Box (as we will continue serving our learning and team-building clients). To kick start this potential entity, The Making-Box also pledged to give $20,000+ of our equipment and provide consultation to new organizers.

Flash forward a few months and a powerfully capable team of volunteers founded The Guelph Performing Arts Co-op. Unfortunately after much exploration, GPAC have determined it is not feasible for them to take over 43 Cork St. Nonetheless, we will be giving our sound and stage equipment to them and strongly encourage you to support them here.

QUESTIONS?

We understand that you may be eager to jump back into the things you did at The Making-Box pre-pandemic and we appreciate that this news may be saddening. Below are some answers to questions you may have. If you have more, reach out to us at talkbox@themakingbox.ca.

HOW IS THE MAKING-BOX DOING? 

You may suspect that COVID-19 would put an organization like ours in critical condition but surprisingly we’re doing quite well.

This past year has given us a unique opportunity to work with teams across the globe like Google, Shopify, Loblaws, University of Calgary and many many more. We also started a Give One program. Every session an organization books with us includes the opportunity to give a session of equal value to an organization in need. This comes at no extra cost. It’s baked into the pricing model. This has allowed us to work with sexual health centres, nature conservancies and hospices across the country this year.

Do we miss the energy of people in a room? Of course.
Did it suck to have to shrink our staff team? Big time.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TO YOUR CLASSROOMS AND THEATRES IN GUELPH AND K-W? 

We signed a 12-month lease in Waterloo that started March 2020 - perfect timing right? We never ended up using this space during the pandemic and decided to end the lease in March 2021. Our five-year lease in Guelph ends this October. We will not be renewing it. 

CAN I STILL LEARN WITH THE MAKING-BOX?

While our primary focus is working within teams and organizations, we also have a few monthly online courses for individuals. These courses have a different flavour than our pre-pandemic offerings. You can learn more about them here. 

WHAT IF I HAVE AN IN-PERSON CLASS CREDIT FROM BEFORE THE PANDEMIC?

We are exploring the idea of a final round of in-person theatrical improv classes for people with class credits. These workshops would potentially run September-October. If you have a class credit, and are interested, please fill out this availability survey.

WILL THE MAKING-BOX EVER OFFER NEW IN-PERSON COURSES?

Maybe. Many of the people we work with are spread across the country and globe, so online will probably be our main operating mode. The Guelph Performing Arts Co-op is planning to offer in-person improv classes and will likely be a great fit if you’re local to Guelph. 

WILL THE MAKING-BOX EVER PERFORM OR PRODUCE LIVE COMEDY SHOWS AGAIN? 

Likely not. It’s a sad decision, and one we believe is the right one for us. We may offer one a final M-B show at this year’s Guelph Comedy Festival. All live tickets for shows before the pandemic have been refunded.

IS LIVE COMEDY IN GUELPH/K-W DONE FOREVER? 

Ha! Heck no. Live comedy is going to be okay. You can learn more about the Guelph Performing Arts Co-op here, and you can donate to their cause here. There are also lots of funny local people and they’ll start running their own shows soon. 

WHERE CAN I FIND PHOTOS OR MEMORIES OF THE MAKING-BOX?

While we’ve cleared our social media accounts of old content, you can still find all our photos from student showcases, classes, and live comedy shows in this Google Drive. 

WHAT IF I STILL HAVE A GIFT CARD? 

Gift cards are non-refundable. However, they can still be used for our individual courses online.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE MAKING-BOX? 

Lots of online learning and team-building experiences and maybe a few in-person ones too. This Summer was jam-packed and the Fall looks promising too. We’ll also be launching a new website soon.