Financial Aid

Whitby Courthouse Theatre is committed to being an accessible space for individuals of all socio-economic statuses, and to those enduring hardship.

The Financial Aid Program is administered by the Privacy Officer and identifying information about applicants is kept strictly confidential, limited information will be provided for program oversight, detailed later in this policy.

The Financial Aid Program has two streams of financial aid:

• Deferred Payment
• Payment Waiver

Eligibility is detailed below for each program, but generally to be eligible an individual must:

• Be a Member of Whitby Courthouse Theatre, or become one.
• Be in a position in which financial assistance would assist in keeping the arts accessible.

Any individual who would benefit from deferred payment is eligible by signing an application form indicating that enrolment in the Deferred Payment Program would assist them.

If, however, an individual does not fulfil their obligations for the Deferred Payment Program, eligibility for Financial Aid would be suspended for one year.

The Deferred Payment Program will reduce the Program Fee due on the original due date to 25% of its value. The remaining 75% will be due on whichever of the following dates comes first:

• Five months from the original due date.
• One month prior to opening night of the production.

Only the Privacy Officer and Treasurer will be aware of the Deferred Payment (subject to Oversight detailed later in this policy).

In order to be deemed eligible for a Payment Waiver an individual’s gross household income must be below $60,000, and submit, alongside an application form, any one of:

• CRA Notice of Assessment
• CRA Proof of Income Statement
• A signed letter from a principal, employer, or other pre-approved individual that details:
  • Your name and address
  • A statement that the household income is below $60,000 or a statement identifying an extenuating financial circumstance

The Payment Waiver Program will waive the Program Fee in its entirety. However, Membership Fees cannot be waived.

Only the Privacy Officer and Treasurer will be aware of the Payment Waiver (subject to Oversight detailed later in this policy).

In order to ensure that this program is administered in a fair and impartial way the Privacy Officer must report the following non-identifying information of applications to the Board of Directors:

• The number of applications received per year.
• The number of applications approved per year.

The Executive of the Board may request to review any received forms or supporting documentation.

An application form can be requested from the Privacy Officer (privacy@whitbytheatre.ca)

The application can then be submitted to the Privacy Officer with supporting documentation (if required). The Privacy Officer will respond within seven business days.

Applications which are approved will be kept on file for seven years, supporting documentation will be noted on the form, but the documentation itself will be destroyed one year after the end of the season for which the application pertained.

Applications which are not approved will be destroyed in their entirety one year following the end of the season for which the application pertained.