Safe-walks program around downtown venues to launch after pleas from WSO performers

The city will provide safe walks and patrols will be increased around downtown arts venues in response to performers and staff feeling unsafe while working in the inner city.

The safety measures are part of the new Performing Arts Wayfinder Program, which will use $100,000 in funding from the mayor’s office for two additional Downtown Community Safety Partnership staff members to focus on safe walks and patrols for performers, audience members and staff.

The program is scheduled to begin in September and run through June 2027.

The initiative comes after members of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra reached out to Mayor Scott Gillingham in a letter outlining their concerns about safety for musicians, other staff and their patrons.

“The group shared their experiences as artists, when they were rehearsing in the afternoon or in the evening, and just wanted to make sure that while they were in rehearsing and honing their craft, that the parking lot was safe for them, and that they could go back to their their vehicles or their means of transportation without any disruption,” Gillingham said at a news conference at Old Market Square Monday. “Those conversations led to collaboration.”

The extra patrols and courtesy walks will be provided for people attending performances and rehearsals by the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Manitoba Opera and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

Safe walks will be available before and after performances through the Downtown Community Safety Partnership app or upon request from members of the organization, known as wayfinders, stationed outside the venues.

Patrols will extend to parking lots around the Centennial Concert Hall and RMTC.

Chris Fensom, co-chair of WSO Members’ Committee and principal trumpet, said musicians and other orchestra staff have had their vehicles broken into, have had strangers get into vehicles with them, and some have been followed at night.

After “many, many incidents,” the committee asked staff to share their experiences and reached out to the city.

“Obviously, people have mental-health crises and drug crises that they go through. We are not equipped to deal with that. We are not trained — we’re trained musicians — to deal with that, and that’s just our perspective,” he said.

“What about the patrons? We want to make sure that they feel safe and secure, and you can have both. You can have a thriving arts community while also dealing with those aspects of the community.”

The orchestra isn’t alone in their concerns.

“We’ve had staff who’ve had their cars broken into, and patrons as well that, over the years, have had some problems when they’ve gotten back to their car after the conclusion of the show,” said Darlene Ronald, the director of marketing at Manitoba Opera.

Regardless, she said, shows continue to sell out. A three-night show can bring more than 6,000 people to the downtown and audiences haven’t dwindled as a result of crime.

“We’re not going to end it overnight, but we can’t not try things,” Ronald said. “This may not be the magic bullet, but in my mind, it’s a start, and then we can build on it, and that’s the main thing.”

Royal Winnipeg Ballet marketing and community engagement manager Quinn Cove said there’s a need for the program.

“I think that, because a lot of the patrons park in the same parking lots, a lot of the staff park in the same parking lots, that hopefully it can be more of a group system, but it would be lovely to see it expand as well in in the future,” said Cove.

The Downtown Community Safety Partnership began holding Wayfinder community walks last summer across downtown. There could be more than two staff members devoted to performing arts venues if there’s a need, its executive director, Greg Burnett, said.

“(Two staff members) feels like enough, and I hope it grows in the future … this is going to pilot this, we’re going to work at it and build from where we go and see what the numbers need,” said Burnett.

In addition to the two officers, another 12 to 15 members of the group patrol around downtown from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

The Exchange District has also had a dedicated patrol team for about 15 years that will hold safe walks and gather around venues on event nights, said the Exchange District BIZ executive director.

“From my perspective, it’s the more the merrier,” said David Pensato. “I think there’s still some more details to be worked out in terms of how how they integrate with what we’re doing, but I look forward to having those conversations.”

Exchange Community Safety Patrol workers responded to more than 1,600 calls between September 2024 and August 2025, according to numbers from last year’s Exchange District BIZ annual general meeting in November.

Some downtown arts venues were not included in the city’s announcement, including Prairie Theatre Exchange.

Managing director Katie Inverarity said PTE “welcome the city’s continued and increased support to our downtown partners,” and noted its Portage Place location already has a number of safety initiatives in place.

“We are fortunate to benefit from tremendous partners, including the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, Downtown Community Safety Partnership and True North, which provides security within Portage Place, including in the underground parkade,” she said in an email.

Gail Asper, a Winnipeg philanthropist and regular patron and participant of the city’s arts scene, said working to address the underlying causes of crime in the Exchange and investing in arts programming there would improve safety.

“I think that this has become a much more serious issue in the last few years, and so I do think this is probably the right thing to do out of respect for the people that are working in the Exchange District,” she said.

“But I do think also that when the Exchange is full of people, like it is right now with the fringe (festival), it is glorious and wonderful. Animating the space more frequently is also important to do. We do want our arts groups to continue to be there, and we need our patrons to keep coming.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca