Public gets its says on proposal for new regional arts centre

By Yvette d'Entremont - The Weekly News
BEDFORD - About 75 people showed up for the first in a series of public consultation meetings about a proposed regional cultural arts centre for the Northwest area of HRM.
The Cobequid Cultural Society hosted the Feb. 15 meeting at the Sackville Lions Club Hall. The group's volunteers are seeking community support to help make their vision a reality.
Lifelong Sackville resident Stacey Moore was invited to speak at the beginning of the meeting. The co-founder and producer of the annual Weir Rockin' outdoor summer concert, she quickly jumped to the crux of the issue.
"Why is it (Weir Rockin') held outdoors? Because there was no indoor venue where we could hold it," she said.
Moore is also the co-founder of Eventurous Theatre Company, a company she said is affectionately known as "Sackville's theatreless theatre company." She outlined why a local arts and cultural venue would be a welcome addition and gift to the community.
"What would be so wonderful for us would be for our performers to perform in a venue where they knew what the production would look like and what it would sound like," Moore explained.
"To be able to change in a dressing room instead of a bathroom or have to do makeup over a bathroom sink. For our patrons to have numbered seats that aren't hard blue plastic ... or to not have a basketball net in the gym that you have to work in."
Dozens of community groups ranging from performance theatre to barber shop quartets from Bedford, Sackville, Fall River, Hammonds Plains and surrounding communities have been contacted by the cultural society and are eager to have a local space.
Volunteers have been working behind the scenes since 2004 on this project. They believe the new high school slated to replace Charles P. Allen in 2012-13 is their best shot at achieving their goal.
Their vision to date is a multifunctional creative learning and performance centre that would serve the school and the region served by the Cobequid Community Health Centre. Described as much more than an auditorium, proponents want it to be a local site for theatre, music, dance, performance, school musicals, conventions, festivals, corporate and community events.
The "rare opportunity" afforded by being able to piggyback onto construction of a new high school only rolls around every 30 years, host Wayne Marsh said. "With co-location, you kill two birds with one stone, maximize your construction budgets," Marsh said.
More than 83,000 people live in the Cobequid catchment area. The cultural society's statistics show that large geographic area accounts for about one-quarter of the population served by Capital Health.
The vast majority of those in the crowd supported the idea, although some had questions about the possible location. A handful suggested having the venue located closer to Bedford would make it less accessible to those in outlying areas.
In response to a question, volunteers said the concept they had in mind wouldn't compete with the Bella Rose Centre as it would be a different type of venue. In addition, they believe many residents in Northwest HRM would make use of a more centrally-located venue, particularly if it meant they didn't have to travel into Halifax and contend with parking.
The Cobequid Cultural Society are encouraging all residents to take their online survey about the proposed regional cultural centre. It's available online between now and March 31. More information, and the survey, are available via www.cccas.ca.
ydentremont@hfxnews.ca