Five days after we said the performing arts centre project is dead on arrival, City Hall has proclaimed it is “moving ahead” with the facility. The Mayor’s Office announced today that it has hired Bing Thom Architects as the consultant for the project. They will initiate “programming work” entailing site selection, budget preparation and project timelines.
The City’s press release invokes Surrey’s growing population as the key for necessitating a third performing arts centre:
“The City of Surrey has half a million residents and we need a major performing arts facility if we’re going to create a dynamic downtown core and foster our creative economy,” says Mayor Dianne Watts.
Once again, the City is calling on senior governments or the private sector to help fund the project, both possibilities that we shot down in our previous article as highly unlikely due to current budget cuts and tight capital in today’s economy.
While the project is commendable in its effort to build more arts infrastructure, we continue to question where the tens of millions will come from to build this centre, as well as the local demand for such a grand facility in a City with no major permanent performing arts groups. Without a comprehensive analysis on the cost/benefit ratio of the project, the Mayor and Council are simply wading into a potential multi-million dollar boondoggle that could saddle taxpayers with unnecessary debt for years to come.
It’d be great to see the project move forward. As a resident of downtown Surrey, I think a 1,600 seat centre would be great, HOWEVER, I’d be quite satisfied with a smaller theatre… Even 1,000 theatre would be acceptable (IMO).
I think it could be a real asset for SFU Surrey as well, maybe the city could get some funding from other levels of government if it could becomes a joint asset with SFU (or even a long term lease giving SFU a certain amount of access).