MainLine Theatre
MainLine Theatre is a Montreal non-profit arts organization that produces the Montreal Fringe Festival and Bouge d'ici Dance Festival, delivers professional development workshops, and provides affordable venue access to emerging, mid-career, and professional performing artists.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1991
- HeadquartersMontréal, Canada
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What MainLine Theatre does
MainLine Theatre is a Montreal-based multidisciplinary non-profit arts organization founded in 1991 that supports emerging, mid-career, and professional artists through festival production, professional development, and affordable venue access. Its core products are the annual Montreal Fringe Festival (FringeMTL) — a 35-year-old multidisciplinary performing arts festival featuring 600+ performances by 500+ artists across 10+ Plateau Mont-Royal venues — and the Bouge d'ici Dance Festival, supplemented by the ML Workshop Series (grant writing, budgeting, fundraising, self-producing), venue rental services, and an OFF Programming track where artists book their own venues. The organization runs a portfolio of revenue streams including ticket sales (tiered $29-$55 with VIP Golden Ticket), artist registration and festival fees, pick-your-price workshop registrations, venue rentals, merchandise sales through a partnership with The In Print MTL, and fundraising events anchored by an annual Rocky Horror Show production. Box office and artist lottery operations are delivered through third-party platforms (red61 online box office, Eventotron), with no proprietary technology stack. The business is led by Executive and Artistic Director Amy Blackmore, whose grant-consulting work with Playwrights' Workshop Montreal and the English Language Arts Network, combined with board roles at Quebec Drama Federation, Caisse Desjardins de la Culture, and Parts+Labour_Danse, anchors the organization's positioning within Quebec's English-language arts funding ecosystem and international fringe network.
MainLine Theatre firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- MainLine Theatre
- Legal name
- Théâtre MainLine Theatre
- Website
- https://mainlinetheatre.ca
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1991
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- MainLine Theatre is a Montreal non-profit arts organization that produces the Montreal Fringe Festival and Bouge d'ici Dance Festival, delivers professional development workshops, and provides affordable venue access to emerging, mid-career, and professional performing artists.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
MainLine Theatre industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Performing Arts Festival Production
- NAICS
- Other Performing Arts Companies (71119), Performing Arts Companies (7111)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Fringe & Experimental Performing Arts (MPAGABAI)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Dance Festivals & Dance Series (MPAGADAJ), Community Theatre & Storytelling Festivals (MPAGAEAI)
Keywords
Where MainLine Theatre is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Montréal
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
MainLine Theatre business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Ticket Sales: Revenue from ticket sales for festival performances and MainLine Theatre productions, including their annual Rocky Horror Show fundraising production. Prices range from $29-$55 depending on ticket type and timing.
- Festival Fees: Registration and festival fees collected from artists participating in the FringeMTL lottery and OFF programming.
- Workshop Registration: Revenue from professional development workshops on grant writing, budgeting, self-producing, and fundraising taught by Executive Director Amy Blackmore. Uses pick-your-price model with suggested $20 registration.
- Venue Rentals: Revenue from renting affordable theatre space to artists.
- Merchandise Sales: Sales of MainLine Theatre merchandise including hoodies, crewnecks, and t-shirts created in partnership with The In Print MTL.
- Fundraising Events: Annual fundraising production (The Rocky Horror Show) and auction events that raise money for the festival.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Standard advance ticket pricing |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Discounted audience segments |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | VIP premium experience |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Professional development workshops |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Multi-year contract | Festival participation fees |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels6 records
MainLine Theatre product offering
Product offeringCore offering
MainLine Theatre produces and operates the Montreal Fringe Festival (FringeMTL) — Canada's largest English-language fringe festival — and the Bouge d'ici Dance Festival, presenting independent theatre and dance work across a network of 10+ Plateau Mont-Royal venues. The organization additionally rents its theatre space at affordable rates to independent artists and runs the ML Workshop Series, covering professional development topics such as grant writing, budgets & timelines, fundraising, and self-producing.
Product overview
MainLine Theatre operates as a multidisciplinary arts organization managing a portfolio of festival products and professional development services. Its core offerings include the Montreal Fringe Festival (FringeMTL) and Bouge d'ici Dance Festival as its primary event productions, complemented by venue rental services, the ML Workshop Series (Grant Writing, Budgets & Timelines, Fundraising, Self-Producing), and dual festival programming tracks (OFF Programming and Lottery Programming). The organization utilizes the Eventotron ticketing platform for box office operations. The portfolio is unified by its mission to democratize artistic creation and reduce accessibility barriers for artists.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Montreal Fringe Festival (FringeMTL) Annual English-language fringe festival presenting independent theatre and live performance across 10+ venues in Montreal's Plateau Mont-Royal, open to emerging, mid-career, and professional artists. Features 600+ performances and 500+ participating artists in its most recent edition.
- Bouge d'ici Dance Festival Dance festival produced by MainLine Theatre, presenting independent dance work and giving choreographers a dedicated presentation platform in Montreal.
- Theatre Venue Rental and Space Availability Affordable short- and long-term rental of MainLine Theatre's performance and rehearsal space for independent artists, small theatre companies, and community arts groups seeking accessible venue access.
- ML Workshop Series Professional development workshop series for independent artists and arts administrators covering grant writing, budgets and timelines, fundraising, and self-producing skills, delivered on a Pick-Your-Price model.
- OFF Programming (Bring-Your-Own-Venue FringeMTL track) Festival participation track allowing artists and companies to bring their own venue into the FringeMTL ecosystem, billed as a no-frills way to present independent work at a chosen location within the festival window.
- Lottery Programming (FringeMTL lottery-selected track) Festival participation track in which independent artists and companies are selected by lottery to perform in festival-managed venues, providing a non-curated, accessible entry point into the Montreal Fringe Festival.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over $170,000 paid to artists in 2025 - record amount
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use MainLine Theatre
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
MainLine Theatre technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
MainLine Theatre partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Reykjavik Fringe FestivalcoreInternational Fringe Arts Exchange collaboration with Reykjavik and Gothenburg Fringe Festivals in 2024 and 2025, fostering cross-border artistic exchange and development opportunities for artists.
- Gothenburg Fringe FestivalcoreInternational Fringe Arts Exchange collaboration with Reykjavik and Gothenburg Fringe Festivals in 2024 and 2025, fostering cross-border artistic exchange and development opportunities for artists.
- Fringe World CongresscoreMainLine Theatre was involved in the visioning of the Fringe World Congress in 2016, which garnered MainLine a nomination to the prestigious Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal.
- InfinitheatreminorVenue partner hosting MainLine events including workshops and FringeMas holiday party. Located at 5413 Boul. Saint-Laurent, second floor with approximately 35 stairs (not wheelchair accessible).
- Théâtre La Comédie de MontréalminorVenue hosting the annual Rocky Horror Show production. Located at 1113 Boul. de Maisonneuve E, wheelchair accessible venue.
- Playwrights' Workshop Montreal (PWM)coreAmy Blackmore works with PWM as a grant writing consultant for artists, and MainLine maintains collaborative relationship for artist support services.
- English Language Arts Network (ELAN)coreAmy Blackmore works with ELAN as a grant writing consultant for artists, supporting the English-language arts community in Quebec.
- Quebec Drama FederationcoreAmy Blackmore served as President from 2015-2018 and recently completed her ten-year tenure on their board. MainLine collaborates on theatre development initiatives including chairing the 2018 Congress Shaping the Future of English Theatre in Quebec.
- The In Print MTLminorMerchandise partnership for Special Edition MainLine merch (hoodies, crewnecks, t-shirts) created in partnership with design by Sandman Design.
- Caisse Desjardins de la CultureminorAmy Blackmore serves as Vice-President of this cultural credit union.
- Parts+Labour_DanсеminorAmy Blackmore serves as President of this dance organization.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
MainLine Theatre competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Brighton Fringe:
- Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival: One of Canada's largest fringe festivals, also part of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals with lottery-based artist selection across multiple downtown venues. Highly comparable structure and artist-payout economics to FringeMTL.
- Toronto Fringe Festival: Toronto's largest theatre festival, operating an open-access, lottery-based model across multiple venues. Most directly comparable Canadian peer: same English-language fringe model, similar artist-pay structure, comparable multi-venue distributed festival format.
- Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival: North America's longest-running fringe festival (since 1982) and a fellow CAFF member. Operates the same open-access lottery model, multidisciplinary programming, and multi-venue footprint as MainLine's FringeMTL.
- Ottawa Fringe: Eastern Ontario's CAFF-member fringe festival using the same lottery-based artist selection and multi-venue distributed model. Highly comparable bilingual-adjacent Canadian peer with similar emerging-artist focus.
- Vancouver Fringe Festival: British Columbia's flagship fringe festival under the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals umbrella. Same lottery selection model, similar emerging-artist development mandate, comparable revenue mix of ticket sales and registration fees.
Broad incumbents
- Edinburgh Festival Fringe: The world's largest arts festival and the original 'Fringe' — operates the same open-access model at vastly greater scale (thousands of shows, hundreds of thousands of attendees). Comparable category and format, but materially larger and global in scope.
- Adelaide Fringe: Australia's largest arts festival and the world's second-largest fringe, also operating open-access, lottery-adjacent artist registration. Same fringe category and emerging-artist mandate, but operates at much greater scale and geographic breadth than MainLine.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
MainLine Theatre social profiles
Digital presenceMainLine Theatre financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
MainLine Theatre leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
MainLine Theatre subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
MainLine Theatre funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
MainLine Theatre M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about MainLine Theatre
What does MainLine Theatre do?
MainLine Theatre produces and operates the Montreal Fringe Festival (FringeMTL) — Canada's largest English-language fringe festival — and the Bouge d'ici Dance Festival, presenting independent theatre and dance work across a network of 10+ Plateau Mont-Royal venues. The organization additionally rents its theatre space at affordable rates to independent artists and runs the ML Workshop Series, covering professional development topics such as grant writing, budgets & timelines, fundraising, and self-producing.
Is MainLine Theatre a public or private company?
MainLine Theatre is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was MainLine Theatre founded?
MainLine Theatre was founded in 1991. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is MainLine Theatre based?
MainLine Theatre is headquartered in Montréal, Canada, in the North America region.
How does MainLine Theatre make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Ticket Sales are the primary driver. The others are festival Fees, workshop Registration, venue Rentals, merchandise Sales and fundraising Events.
Who are MainLine Theatre's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Brighton Fringe, Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, Toronto Fringe Festival, Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival, Ottawa Fringe and Vancouver Fringe Festival. Broad incumbents are Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Adelaide Fringe.
Does MainLine Theatre have an API?
No public API is recorded for MainLine Theatre.
What industry is MainLine Theatre in?
MainLine Theatre's product category is Performing Arts Festival Production. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAGABAI, Fringe & Experimental Performing Arts, with a secondary code of MPAGADAJ, Dance Festivals & Dance Series. Its NAICS code is 71119 and its SIC code is 7900.