Editor: Re: Big bucks are in the offing (RMO editorial, Nov. 21). Your editorial of Nov.
Editor:
Re: Big bucks are in the offing (RMO editorial, Nov. 21).
Your editorial of Nov. 21 suggests that the town council might look twice at the proposed community arts centre if it needs to cut next year’s budget to meet expenses incurred by last spring’s flood. You cite the cost of the arts centre at $2.3 million and suggest it will be used by only a small sampling of the population. Unfortunately, both assertions are inaccurate.
The actual cost of the community arts centre is $900,000. The balance of the cited price tag, $1.4 million, is for renovations to the old library - including replacing the roof - that will have to be made regardless of whatever purpose council decides for the building.
Given the town just spent $39 million on Elevation Place and is considering spending $6 million to repurpose the swimming pool in the old rec centre, $900,000 for a fully equipped, well-staffed community arts centre is an excellent deal.
Will the community arts centre be used by only a “small sampling ” of the population? Three years of in-depth research, community consultations and planning from Town-sponsored advisory groups suggests otherwise. Offering a wide diversity of arts, crafts and creativity classes, movies, performances and special events, the centre will be visited by Canmore residents and visitors many thousands of times each year.
As part of the research, 600 individuals were interviewed about the idea and asked what they would like to do at the centre. The results were almost unanimously positive.
Featuring three teaching studios, a 105-seat performance studio, a box office, a central hub with walls for displaying art and space to support community art projects, the centre will be a gathering place for hundreds of Canmore residents and visitors who want to learn how - to list a few of the opportunities - to paint, pot, sculpt, photograph, quilt, act, improvise, sing, play an instrument and work with leather, paper, glass, concrete and plaster.
Hundreds of other residents and visitors will enjoy the movies that will be shown every second week in the performance studio. There will be programs for everyone from parents and tots to seniors, and school classes can use the space for their arts and creativity programs.
The centre will also be home for the Canadian Mountain Arts Foundation (CMAF) which, aside from running the centre, will continue to host the annual artsPeak and Vic Lewis Band Festivals. Both events support tourism and generate substantial revenues for the Town and its businesses.
Given as much, $900,000 is an extremely reasonable investment for the Town - one that will provide great value to a large sampling of the community year after year after year. To halt the project at this point, or even postpone it, would be not only a major disappointment for the dozens of individuals who have devoted hundreds of hours to its planning over the last three years, but a big set-back for the Town itself in terms of the time, energy, money and goodwill it has already committed.
If you’d like to learn more about the arts centre, drop by the office in the old library during regular business hours and we’ll be delighted to show you the plans, tell you about the classes, events and activities that are being planned, and listen to your ideas on what you’d like to see happen at the community arts centre.
Priscilla Janes, president,
Canadian Mountain Arts Foundation
