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I’m writing this from Stratford, Ontario in Canada. I’ve had a very exciting few days’ visit here, despite being extremely exhausting and demanding. Haven’t had too much free time – round the clock days networking and meeting new people as well as pitching the Finnish way of doing things. However, we did have a little chance last night to go out to a Shakespearean Theatre they have built here. The staff there gave us a tour into the dungeons underneath the theatre, more specifically the dressing rooms, prop rooms and what have you.

The story behind this theatre is extremely interesting. It was built back in 1952 when Stratford, a city of less than 30k inhabitants, was going through a structural change in its economy. The city council back then decided to strategically focus on arts and tourism through a very interesting differentiation strategy. They combined the old classical theatre with a twist of new theatre in an old Shakespearean setting where the attendees sit very close to the stage itself.

This strategy has been very successful for the city itself. The theatre generates revenues for the city in the 100+ million Canadian a year and direct taxes worth 50+ million. During the high season the theatre itself employs more than 1000 people and with that is the biggest employer of the city. Annually they produce 14 productions in the 4 theatres they have in town with about 100 shows in each production. Talk about scalability in arts!

What interests me is that the government on a city level has taken a very business like approach to positioning themselves in a blue ocean market and thus making it relevant on a North American scale. It reminds me so much of the situation many of the Finnish cities are in and yet very stubborn to capitalise on those possibilities. There’s so much for the Finns to learn – I’d recommend many of the Finnish politicians on a local level study the strategic road the city of Stratford has taken in the last 100 years. Truly great stuff.