Budweiser Gardens has a new sponsor for its performance stage. What was once the RBC Theatre will now be known as the Start.ca Performance Stage.

The sponsorship agreement takes effect on December 1st and has a five-year term.

The performance stage configuration seats up to 4,000 people and features a 40 line fly grid - a configuration needed for broadway perfromances.

Although it was designed for broadway performances, the theatre has been used extensively for concerts, comedy shows and family entertainment events.

Budweiser Gardens General Manager Brian Ohl says being able to offer a theatre stage setting has been pivotal to the venue’s success.

“We really wanted to have a theatre configuration in here. We spent extra money to do that and it really has paid off with the ‘Broadway in London’ series that we do, the number of concerts that we put in here, the speaking engagements. It’s been a very successful endeavor here.”

Marketing Manager Janet Smith says, as a London-based company, Start.ca is always looking for ways to increase its involvement in the city, “We do a lot within the community but we haven’t really tapped into the theatre arts and music areas of sponsorship yet. So it was really nice for us to be approached by Budweiser Gardens and Spectra with this opportunity.”

The financial terms of the sponsorship deal were not revealed.

In celebration of the new arrangement 30 tickets to Paw Patrol Live! are being donated to the Children's Health Foundation and 30 tickets to Kinky Boots are being donated to the Belle Pointe Dance & Movement Company.