Community & Recognition

From our Community Ticket Program to hosting community events, Scotiabank Centre welcomes and supports fans and friends to make an impact.

On November 20, Scotiabank Centre hosted the Tribe Network’s Tribe Leaders Summit. Tribe Network, a Halifax-based organization for racialized entrepreneurs and innovators, celebrated Global Entrepreneurship Week with a full-day event that showcased the spirit, resiliency, and achievements of entrepreneurs in our community and across Canada. A vibrant and engaged audience enjoyed cross-sector dialogue, including a fireside chat with business leader and former Member of Parliament Frank Baylis, sessions to inspire women entrepreneurs, and an intergenerational conversation on collective history and shared futures. The Tribe Leaders’ Summit was an important event for our community, and Scotiabank Centre was thrilled to collaborate with the Tribe Network to make it happen.

“We welcomed guests from Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and across Atlantic Canda to join us in this celebration. Together, we experienced what’s possible when you dream big. We agreed to aim even higher – growing this summit from 1,000 attendees to 10,000, one day filling Scotiabank Centre. This event was special. It was a team effort.”

– Alfred Burgesson, Founder & CEO, The Tribe Network.

On March 11, Scotiabank Centre re-launched Scotiabank Noon Skates – a free community skate – with the first-ever March Break Scotiabank Noon Skate. Working with our community partners, the March Break spectacular featured dinosaur costumes and learning activities from the Discovery Centre, on-ice visits from the Halifax Mooseheads mascots, and treats from our partners at Sodexo. More than 100 local youth and families made the Noon Skates relaunch an event to remember. We can’t wait to welcome our community back for Noon Skates through 2025-26.

This year, Scotiabank Centre was proud to continue delivering our Community Ticket Program and the Ticket Donation Program, which supported fundraisers organized by registered non-profits and charities across Nova Scotia. This year combined, Scotiabank Centre donated more than 800 event tickets to our community including to our longtime partner Kids Up Front Atlantic, which ensures tickets are distributed to youth who otherwise would not have the opportunity to attend our events, and Prescott Group, an employment partner that supports adults with intellectual challenges and provides avenues for employment and inclusion. More than 40 local non-profits and charities received ticket donations to support fundraising and social inclusion initiatives, including Hope Blooms, Hope Cottage, the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS), Coverdale Justice Society, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre.

“Through our partnership, we were able to send hundreds of youth to their first Mooseheads and Thunderbirds games and allow them to gain experiences they wouldn’t have without Scotiabank Centre’s support.”

– Chelsea Amoah, Kids Up Front Atlantic.

In February, the East Coast Music Association announced that the 2024 JUNO Awards were nominated for Event of the Year at the 2025 East Coast Music Awards. Hosted at Scotiabank Centre, the 2024 JUNO Awards included JUNO events in the months leading up to JUNO Week. Led by the 2024 JUNO Halifax Host Committee, co-Vice-Chaired by Suzanne Fougere, the Wavemakers Tour and JUNO Week events welcomed almost 60 performers from all four Atlantic provinces, generated $7M in economic impact, with 3M viewers of the live broadcast from Scotiabank Centre. In May, the 2024 JUNO Awards were nominated for the Event of the Year Award in the 2025 MPI Atlantic Awards in recognition of the impact and excellence of the event.

In March, Scotiabank Centre’s Executive Vice-President Suzanne Fougere was presented with the 2025 Sport Tourism Industry Champion Award at the Sport Tourism PRESTIGE Awards in Calgary, Alberta. This was the first year that Sport Tourism Canada awarded this category. The Sport Tourism Industry Champion Award recognized Suzanne’s executive experience and longtime efforts to enhance and support the sport tourism sector in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and across Canada.

The annual Atlantic University Sport Basketball Championships have been a signature event at Scotiabank Centre since the beginning. After the facility opening in 1978, the CIAU Men’s Basketball Tournament was the first-ever sports event held at Scotiabank Centre, starting a sports legacy that continues today. Operating under different monikers until the 1990s, AUS brought the top five men’s and women’s collegiate basketball teams from the Atlantic region to Scotiabank Centre to compete for the banner year after year. In 1998, Halifax coach Phil Currie joined AUS as Executive Director. Over the next almost 30 years, Phil would grow AUS from a local basketball competition to a major community event, generating significant corporate sponsorships and partnerships, and creating moments that student athletes and fans would remember for the rest of their lives.

This year, Phil announced his retirement from AUS at the conclusion of the 2025 tournament, his last basketball championship at Scotiabank Centre in 24 years. As a partner, Phil has helped Scotiabank Centre build a welcoming home for AUS, become a host for the national U SPORT Championships, and carry on a legacy and passion for university sport that inspires our whole community.

Thank you, Phil.