A group of Kelowna residents have formed a new society with the goal of bringing downtown Kelowna a new world-class performing arts centre.
“We have a rich cultural landscape in the city and a new theatre would enhance that,” said Patricia Ainslie, Kelowna Citizens for a New Performing Arts Centre Society’s president.
The new centre will replace the existing Kelowna Community Theatre on Water Street.
“The venerable old theatre was built over 60 years ago, it has served the community well,” said Ainslie.
“But, it’s time we had a much more updated and more contemporary Kelowna performing arts centre.“
Ainslie said as Kelowna continues to be one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, it’s only right that the city has a world-class performing arts centre.
“What’s missing right now is a real world-class theatre, where people can see international acts,” said Ainslie.
“We know that a lot of things bypass Kelowna because we do not have an adequate theatre.”
The City of Kelowna is on board and has begun casting ideas for the project.
Staff are identifying where they can find the funding for the centre, which is estimated to cost a minimum of $65 million.
“Given the increasing sophistication of our audiences, it is definitely time to start planning for a new performing arts centre,” said Sandra Kochan, City of Kelowna’s partnership manager.
“This year will be spent building our funding toolkit.”
The City of Kelowna says the new centre would be an amazing addition to their vision for the revitalization of the downtown core — adding another piece to Kelowna’s Cultural District.
The new society is looking to gather more community support.