When a sudden but expensive real estate opportunity came to Island Mountain Arts, they almost as suddenly gathered tens of thousands of dollars to purchase the property. They still have a long way to go to complete the deal, however, and time is running out.
Island Mountain Arts (IMA) has a year-round gallery, operates many arts classes and workshops year-round, runs the annual ArtsWells festival, and many other cultural activities.
Although they are based in Wells - the hamlet at the end of the Barkerville Highway, the doorstep community for the historic town - their economic and cultural impacts are felt directly in Quesnel and Prince George.
IMA is headquartered in a large building on prominent Pooley Street, but for many years their activities and possessions have needed to be farmed off to other sites around the tiny town. With a recent resurgence in mining and forestry activity in the area, those few available buildings are now being snapped up by industrial companies, putting a further squeeze on IMA's operations. By a stroke of luck, when one came up for sale - the spacious building next door they had salivated over for years - they got the first right to purchase.
They slapped down a $5,000 nonrefundable deposit and set to work scrabbling together the $65,000 down payment required to outright purchase the $275,000 building. A crowd-sourcing fundraising campaign got underway only a couple of weeks ago, led by IMA executive director Julie Fowler, board president Yael Wand and vice-president Paul Crawford.
"It looks as if this first phase will reach close to $35,000 plus the $5,000 deposit," said Crawford. "It means we reached half the 25 per cent down payment we needed at first, but things are encouraging with Integris hopefully coming on board.
"This doesn't mean our fundraising efforts are over," he added. "On the contrary, every bit more that rolls in will help us build our case with the credit union. The more we can put down the more likely this property can be the Island Mountain Centre for the Arts. A 'nest' for artists."
The crowd-sourcing campaign is still underway on the Indiegogo website, or through IMA's front office. The financing must be in place by Monday or the deal could fall through.
That would be an opportunity loss for the entire region, said Wand, a successful singer-songwriter based on Salt Spring Island (formerly a resident of Wells) who continues to support IMA with her volunteer efforts.
"Wells is a town full of creative people," Wand said. "Photographers, visual artists, dancers, musicians, actors, writers, crafters and still many more artists flock to Wells every year to create, inspire and learn. IMA has served as a cornerstone in this broad artistic community for 37 years ... generally contributing to the cultural wealth of British Columbia. My own involvement with IMA has helped me grow as a performer, develop my creative business skills, engaged me in community and inspired me over and over again. I know I am just one of thousands of artists who has benefited from participating in and contributing to IMA's programs."
The building would specifically allow IMA to house their visiting artists without the need of precious local hotel space, which also frees those rooms for more incoming tourists and participants. The new building would also provide needed storage space, meeting space and instructional space, all within a few paces of the existing IMA operation.
"Whenever we have to fundraise for something - and this is probably the most important fundraising campaign we have ever done - we always think about the big philanthropist out there, hoping for someone to just drop the whole amount down for us in one shot, but it never happens," said Fowler. "Our growth has always happened because hundreds of people contributed little bits, doing what they can, and it all adds up. That's what's happening here, but we still wish for that big angel benefactor or a favourable financing deal with Integris, that would have the same effect."
OPTIONAL SIDEBAR
Hopes for New History In Old Digs
Like almost every inch of the Wells area, the building IMA hopes to own comes with a rich history that even touches Prince George (notice names like Garvin Dezell and Hub King). The IMA staff dug up the property's past for public knowledge, as they attempt to raise enough money to make the purchase. Their account of the adjacent lot is:
This building was constructed in late 1938 by Garvin Dezell Contractors (who also built the Wells Community Hall) for the Cariboo Gold Quartz Mining Company. This was the major office building for the town.
The first floor contained the Royal Bank and the RCMP.
The second story held the offices of the Wells Townsite Company and lawyer Hub King.
From 1985 to 1989, Mosquito Creek Mine had offices on the first floor and the second floor had been converted to a private residence.
In the late 1990s the building exterior was heavily modified as it was turned into a bed-and-breakfast. A peaked roof structure was built over the original flat roof and finished with metal roofing.
The exterior walls were insulated with two inches of rigid foam insulation on top the original clapboard, before being stuccoed and painted. There is also some insulation in the space between the original ceiling and roof.
Most of the original windows were replaced with double-glazed aluminum windows. Although these modifications served to disguise the heritage qualities of the building exterior, they did provide the building with a more practical exterior protection system for local weather conditions.
Outbuildings: The large lot contains two outbuildings.
One is a garage which was once the first Royal Bank building in Wells. The other is a small cabin that was moved onto the site.
There is also a foundation from a previous Quonset hut that collapsed from snow load, which provides an excellent opportunity for an additional building to be built at some future time.
