A multi-million-dollar renovation to the Myer Horowitz Theatre at the University of Alberta is on hold after a failed attempt to get the student body to pitch in on the renovation costs.
A referendum was held earlier this month, asking students if they would be willing to pay a $16.50 fee per term, which would go towards the $14-million project. Students would only pay half of the fee – or $8.25 per term – until the newly renovated facility reopened.
By a narrow margin, the vote failed, with 49 per cent of students saying no. Forty-four per cent of students said yes and six per cent of the votes were spoiled or unmarked.
“It’s very, very close,” said Robyn Paches, vice-president of operations and finance with the University of Alberta Students’ Union. The students’ union owns and operates the theatre.
“In the lens of the theatre, it’s on hold. We’re going back to the drawing board to see if we can amend that proposal.”
Paches said the students’ union will now conduct surveys and focus groups to find out why the referendum failed. They hope to bring the question back to students during next spring’s election.
Paches admits they will have to take a hard look at the proposal should the referendum fail again.
“We will absolutely cross that bridge when we get there,” he said.
“I think at that point, we need to seriously take a look at what other options we have with the theatre. Do we need to dial back the renovations and do just the shell? When I say shell, I mean the interior of the theatre without the lobby. Do we need to change up other major parts of our proposal? We would definitely need to take a step back and analyze what to do at that point.”
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In the meantime, other renovations will be done at the students’ union building in hopes of offering more to clients who rent the space.
“We’ll be creating a commercial kitchen and renovating and creating new meeting rooms on the lower level, which would then supplement the renovation of a theatre in the future so we can provide a full suite of services when people rent the theatre,” Paches said.
The theatre renovation was announced in late 2016. The price tag on the project at the time sat around $11 million, but Paches said $14 million is now a more realistic cost.
The students’ union originally hoped to fundraise upwards of $11 million but has since done a feasibility study that showed they might not be able to raise as much as originally thought.
“We were told that we can reasonably expect to fundraise $3 million out of the budget,” Paches said. “But, our consultants told us that that hinges quite a bit on student support, so that was where we initially had the idea to run the referendum. What better way to show potential donors and supporters that students support it than through a referendum?
“Obviously, with the result of the referendum, we need to take a second look at the project and make sure that we have the correct proposal so the students support it.”
The 720-seat theatre, which opened in 1967, has seen better days. Some of the technology is out of date, which forces some clients to rent equipment that will hook up to the theatre’s system, Paches said. Plus, the lobby is “constrictive” and ideally, they’d like to build a two-storey lobby so clients can better accommodate crowds during intermission.
“And then, of course, I mentioned the general comfort, a lot of people do complain about the comfort of the seats. And when you’re there for eight hours for a dance competition, that can definitely mean the difference between happy and not,” Paches said.
“I think it’s absolutely a concern that we need to address, that the theatre is going into disrepair.”
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The students’ union has solidified $165,000 in government grants to help pay for the project. Without the remainder of the funding in place, the project is now on hold.
“I think a better estimate now would be more like a June 2020 break ground, and then with a hopeful open in late December 2020 or early January 2021,” Paches said.
The theatre is booked at least 200 days per year, Paches said, adding it’s difficult to say exactly how often the theatre is used for student purposes versus events for the general public.
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