A provincial government investment of $10 million is being handed to Dalhousie University’s Performing Arts Campaign.
The money, which accounts for more than 25 per cent of the campaign’s $38.5-million goal, will go toward refurbishment and expansion of the existing arts centre.
“It’s fantastic,” explained Richard Florizone, president of Dalhousie University. “We’ve been working on this project for years and we’ve had terrific private support but we still fell short of what we needed.”
“This $10 million is phenomenal.”
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Expanding the centre will allow for all of the Fountain School of the Performing Arts programs to be housed in the same building. That includes music, theatre, cinema, media and costume studies.
When completed, students will have new, upgraded rehearsal spaces and learning environments. However, Premier Stephen McNeil expects the benefits to be more widespread than to solely those attending Dalhousie.
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“People come to different places for different reasons; positive economy, the environment,” he said. “But they also come to be part of a vibrant cultural community.”
Dalhousie’s president isn’t saying where they currently stand when it comes to reaching their funding goal, only indicating it was well past 50 per cent.
In their fundraising efforts they have used a multi-pronged approach to drum up support from a variety of avenues, which Florizone says is the only way to get a project of this magnitude to break ground.
“The reality is with these kinds of projects it’s what you need,” he said. “You need the university, you need government, you need the corporate sector, philanthropic sector working together.”
“It doesn’t quite get us over the line but we’re very, very close, and I’m hoping with the support of others in the community we’re really going to get there.”
Florizone hopes to be able to make an announcement soon with more details, such as a timeline for beginning construction.
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