It’s something that a local advocacy group has been calling for a number of years, and now the idea of a brand-new Kelowna Community Theatre could be closer to reality.
Kelowna’s Citizens for a New Performing Arts Centre announced that council approved terms of reference for a Community Task Force on the Performing Arts.
“This is the first real step that shows that this will move forward,” said the advocacy group president Myles Bruckal.
“After this will go into steps as to where will the money come from, but this was the first step that had to be taken. It cements the project that it’s going to get done and not something that is on a future wishlist.”
The task force was endorsed at Monday’s council meeting and will be chaired by Kelowna’s Mayor Tom Dyas.
The task force will spend the next eight to 12 months looking into the capacity of the project and how best to move forward, as well as looking at opportunities and recommendations on how to advance the theatre.
“The idea with the task force is to gather together members of the community who have experience in development, who have experience in the arts, who have experience in a number of fields that together we can sit down and look at how we can advance the developments of the Kelowna Community Theatre,” said Dyas.
“Looking at how we can establish partnerships in the community in regards to funding opportunities and how we can also look at building stronger relationships with all the communities within the arts and so that we can hear what they’re looking for.”
Dyas went on to say that creating a new task force was a priority for council.
“There has been this group of individuals within our community who have been very strongly advocating to advance the redevelopments of the Kelowna Community Theatre,” said Dyas.
“That is why council and its priorities has established this as one of its priorities and also put aside a million dollars to look at doing some of the initial planning that will be recommended through the Community Task force to advance the Kelowna Community Theatre.”
The current theatre is located along Water Street, and the advocacy group says it’s too early to know what the new facility will look like.
“Firm positions by the city at this point is that it’ll be on the current site cause they’ve established that it’s in the cultural district, it’s an anchor for that district and it’s the best place for it,” said Bruckal.
The task force will also include one councillor and 10 members from the community and their first report back to council is expected within the next four to eight months.
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