There is some exciting news just across the street from the Broadway District. 25th Street Theatre has announced that it is now managing the performing arts usage of The Refinery Arts & Spirit Centre at 609 Dufferin Avenue, following several months of conversations with Emmanuel Anglican Church.
While The Refinery sits just outside the official Broadway BID boundary, its connection to Broadway has always been close. Performances, Fringe programming and community events at The Refinery bring people into the area and contribute to the broader arts and cultural ecosystem surrounding the district. For most people attending an event, that administrative boundary is not particularly noticeable; they are coming to spend an afternoon or evening in and around Broadway.
That is part of why this announcement feels worth celebrating.
A Familiar Space, With a New Partnership
The Refinery has long been an important space for theatre, performance and community activity in Saskatoon, and it also has a meaningful history with 25th Street Theatre. Under the new agreement, 25th Street Theatre will manage the performing arts use of the venue while working alongside Emmanuel Anglican Church to continue supporting the other community-building activities already happening there.
For 25th Street Theatre, the partnership creates a home for more of its own programming while continuing to make space available to other artists, including Fringe performers. For the broader community, it helps keep an established performance space active and gives artists another place to create, rehearse, experiment and connect with audiences.
Arts and Culture Are Part of the Local Economy
We talk often about Broadway’s restaurants, retailers and services when we talk about the local economy, but arts and culture are part of that picture too.
Someone attending a performance at The Refinery may come early for dinner, meet a friend for coffee, stop into a shop, grab a drink afterward or notice another business they want to come back and visit. Someone who discovers the area because of a performance may return another weekend for an entirely different reason.
The Broadway Theatre, live-music venues, galleries, restaurants, retailers, community spaces and neighbouring arts venues all give people different reasons to be here. No single business or organization creates that experience on its own. It is the combination that helps make the area somewhere people choose to spend time rather than simply pass through.
The First Show Is Already on the Calendar
25th Street Theatre has already announced its first Beyond the Fringe production at The Refinery. Larry Saves the Canadian Healthcare System by Sara Kreindler will run February 3–14, 2027, with tickets expected to go on sale before the holidays.
The Refinery will also continue to be available for bookings by other artists and organizations, with performing arts inquiries now being directed through 25th Street Theatre.
We are looking forward to seeing what grows from this new partnership.
A healthy district is not shaped only by what happens inside an official boundary on a map. It is also shaped by the people, organizations, venues and gathering spaces surrounding it, especially when they bring people together, support creative work and give Saskatoon another reason to spend time in the area.