BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A Canadian built Shea’s Performing Arts Center nearly a century ago, and now its recently installed president and CEO is looking across the border for a boost in its new era.
Brian Higgins held a press conference Tuesday on his second day in charge of the Buffalo theater campus to lay out how he will seek to expand its audience in the coming years. An increased emphasis on soliciting tourism from Canadian theatergoers was one of several strategies the former congressman said he plans to implement.
“I’ve heard from numerous people … in Canada, the province of Ontario, that believe Shea’s has great, great potential in drawing the Canadian market to Buffalo and Western New York,” Higgins said.
Higgins pointed out that the original Shea’s theater’s founder, Michael Shea, came from Ontario before building what would become a “destination for heritage tourism.” Calling Ontario an “untapped resource,” he said Shea’s would “aggressively” market to patrons in the province.