The organizers of the proposed Performing Arts Centre have established their next board of directors.
The group has been meeting for the past seven consecutive years to move forward the long-held belief that Prince George's culture and economy would do better if an additional and downtown performance space was added to the city's infrastructure profile.
No operational decisions were made at the annual general meeting held Wednesday night. It was primarily to get the group set on the year's starting blocks. The financial statements were presented and detailed by treasurer Les Waldie; a summary report of the previous year was explained by president Kirk Gable; the outgoing board members were thanked and new board members welcomed.
Gable said the dialogue going forward was greatly enhanced by two feasibility reports that were concluded this past year.
One was a civic examination authored by municipal staffer Dan Adamson.
"I'd like to commend Dan and others at the city for the work done on that report," said Gable. "It was very thorough, very comprehensive, a good piece of work."
The second report was a needs assessment conducted by research company R.A. Malatest and Associates. This Live Entertainment Market Demand Study looked into how Prince George residents felt about having a new performing arts centre and if there was a true business case for having one.
"According to their findings, yes, this community is ready for this," Gable said.
Gable made mention of the range of options still to be considered, and the various costs associated. He also brought up the idea forwarded by some that the city's professional drama company Theatre North West should be considered part of the calculations as a resident tenant of some kind in the hypothetical building.
Funding models were lightly discussed, but without hard decisions yet made on the size, shape and scope of the building it was difficult to have a meaningful understanding of what the price tag would be, said Gable, although he did give some estimated figures for some of the ideas. He also stressed that for the dollars spent by local taxpayers, the project represented a construction boon for the city (the tax money would go significantly into local consumers' pockets in the form of construction goods, services and labour), stood a good chance of attracting provincial and federal tax dollars back into the community in the form of grants we would likely never otherwise receive, and once built would be an economic catalyst for years to come.
"I'm really happy with the work that's been done," Gable said. "It [the knowledge gathered by the two reports] couldn't have come out better. It is a made-in-P.G. solution to a P.G. issue and this deals, in a professional way, with all the analyses. If it does nothing else, it gives us a clear path to how we can achieve our goals. We are certainly keen to see this project go forward."
Gable and Waldie must both step back from the Prince George Performing Arts Centre Society as their time on the board has reached its limit. The slate of returning board members and those recruited as candidates totaled within the society's maximum allowable number, so all were acclaimed. The board now consists of Colin Dix, Bjorn Butow, Marnie Hamagami, Valerie Giles, Jim Cluff, Don Bassermann, Lisa Redpath, Frank Peebles, Jeremy Stewart and Jack Grinhaus. At their next meeting, scheduled for Monday, this team will decide executive positions among themselves for the coming year.
