By Pepper Parr
September 22, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Sara Palmieri has been the Executive Director of the Performing Arts Centre for eight months. She replaced Tammy Fox who left BPAC on very short notice.
The Board then set out to find a new Executive Director and chose a woman who has been working within the performing arts community for more than 23 years starting out at the Centre for the Arts, Brock University in the fall of 2003 first as a media and communications Assistant.
She moved into sales and marketing and became the Manager. In that position, Palmieri did a lot of work in programming, audience development, community outreach and in the Arts Education series.
Brock University Centre for the Arts closed its doors in May of 2015.
Sara Palmieri: Executive Director of the Performing Arts Centre.
Palmieri was the inaugural Director of Programming & Marketing at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre (FOPAC) in downtown St. Catharines, which opened in the Fall of 2015. She held that position until the end of January of 2025.
The City of St. Catharines oversaw the operations of FOPAC until December 31, 2019 and in Jan 2020, FOPAC moved to oversight from a Municipal Service Board with the City of St. Catharines.
Palmieri, who started her new job on February 18, 2025, takes a cautious approach to most of what she does. When she arrived at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre (BPAC) much of the program for the year was already in place. Her immediate focus was to begin to think about what she would look for in terms of programming and, at the same time, get to know people in the community; build the relationships and get an understanding of what people want.
“Much of what we put on the stages is determined by what is available” explained Palmieri. “There might be a group that is on tour and performing at locations close to us – it makes sense to put them on our stages.”
The Burlington Teen Tour Band marches into the Performing Arts Centre, making it home for them.
Palmieri has two stages: The Main Theatre that will hold a bit more than 725 people; the Community theatre that can hold 100, depending on how the room is set up.
Then there is the large open space with a cash bar that doesn’t have a name but can hold up to 250 people.
There will be an emphasis on local talent that will include having citizens on the stage. You will see them taking part in the Nutcracker Suite performance.
2025-2026 is the 15th anniversary of the Burlington Performing Arts Centre, an event Palmieri will focus on.
Sara Palmieri: “Many of those students who watch their first live performance on our stages are future patrons.”
BPAC is the Presenting Sponsor for the Sound of Music – which at this point doesn’t mean much more than a statement. The Sound of Music is working on how it can survive. Once that has been worked out there might be some cross-pollination or shared events. All in the future, assuming the Sound of Music has one.
Will there be a locally produced boffo event showcasing some of the past winners? Nothing yet.
What Palmieri is fixed on is continuing and improving the educational work BPAC has done in the past. “Many of those students who watch their first live performance on our stages are future patrons.”
