MANITOWANING—While Assiginack Township considers what, and if, it wants to move forward with a new Assiginack Arts and Events Centre, the Burns Wharf Theatre Players (BWTP) remain homeless.
“We got the engineering drawings done for the new centre, but no final decision has been made,” said Mayor Brenda Reid, after council heard a presentation by BWTP representatives at a special council meeting last week. “They did a presentation and now this is something that council will have to discuss.”
As reported in 2017, an assessment carried out on the Burns Wharf building deemed the structure unsafe. Previous council obtained funding to explore a multi-use building for the community that could also be used for private functions. The township sought and found a funding source and a rough design looked at attaching the new facility to the existing Manitowaning arena in order to share infrastructure such as the restrooms. The cost was estimated at $2.7 million. However, council was not happy with the original location proposed.
Ray Scott, music director for BWTP, made the presentation to council, with other members of the group in attendance at a recent meeting. Mr. Scott, who also sits on the non-profit BWTP board of directors said the group is worried about the status and progress of the Assiginack Arts and Events Centre. He pointed out on council two terms ago, now Mayor Brenda Reid said “‘If you want to do business with the town, you need to get incorporated.’ We’ve done that and our board of directors is ready to do business with you.”
Mr. Scott thanked the previous council and staff for initiating phase one of a building plan and noted that a viable plan for an Arts and Events Centre did emerge from this before praising the current council for its forward-thinking support in voting to spend $168,000 on an architect. “This is a critical juncture for this project and I applaud this council for its excellent voting decisions so far,” he said.
“BWTP are a non-profit community theatre group that specializes in musicals,” Mr. Scott told council. “We’re pretty good and we bring a lot of people together in the community. We have many active volunteers, but we still have lots of people contacting us saying, ‘Hey, can we join Burns Wharf Theatre Players?’ Despite all the challenges that we face, we are still an active and growing organization. We are growing in numbers and our economic impact grows too.”
BWTP is also homeless, Mr. Scott told council. He thanked other organizations who have taken the group in when there was nowhere to go. “BWTP is grateful to Debajehmujig Theatre Group and Knox United Church who, in theatre terms, let us couch surf,” he said. “When you see a show on stage, you take the stage for granted, but in reality there are very few places where you can get up to 30 people on and off stage with sound and good lighting, and give the audience good sightlines.”
“We had that at Burns Wharf Theatre 10 years ago,” said Mr. Scott. “Yes, this marks our 10-year anniversary of being homeless, and it has been very hard for our organization.”
BWTP performances bring thousands of people into Manitowaning, which works out to about 500 people a week coming into town when the group hosts performances, Mr. Scott added.
A multi-purpose arts centre, as has been proposed, would also serve other groups, he said. “But our organization needs a theatre home in order to grow and therein lies economic opportunity at the local level. This isn’t pie in the sky numbers. We already have had people coming to this town, and spending money here, to see BWTP,” said Mr. Scott
BWTP is an economic powerhouse with no home, he reiterated. “We are homeless. We can’t grow without a theatre home and we want to grow. We need to grow. We have more people wanting to do shows with us than we can take in right now. We want to grow and we want to grow with this town.”
He told council that BWTP is a community-based volunteer arm with a long-standing track record of success. “Based on our proven business model since 2008, these are the revenues you will receive from our activities (BWTP projects figures being $10,000 in year one and approximately $20,000 in years four and five),” he told council.
Referring to the return on investment for a new facility, Mr. Scott said, “In 2008 Assiginack council invested $1,000 in a then unproven and untested group which became BWTP—you are looking at a 1,900 percent return on that initial investment.”
He challenged council to find a better return on investment than what council has already known with BWTP.
Mr. Scott also spoke on the viability of the proposed centre. “The Assiginack Arts and Entertainment Centre is already deemed viable and fundable because you have received money for phase two.” He said he is confident the money is there for the centre, both through funding agencies and through working with BWTP and other groups.
BWTP has some concerns, he said. “For example, there was quite a scramble in the end for securing the services of an architect. Otherwise, the FedNor funding would have been lost for architect services.”
Mr. Scott said as far back as December 29, 2022 he had raised concerns that the request for proposals to obtain an architect was not widely circulated. He said the group was aware of at least two professionals that had reached out to the township to offer their services in response to the request for proposals but that neither individual had their calls returned.
“We appreciate learning from Alton (Hobbs, CAO of Township of Assiginack) that the architect firm Perry and Perry submitted plans to council for consideration and those plans were sent back,” he said. “We are worried about why they were sent back. Another concern we have is that consultation should have taken place before a draft design.”
“It appears there is a new draft design that is being made and as a user group we still have not had an opportunity to provide input, so we have asked to see the initial draft of Perry and Perry’s architectural plans and we have received no response,” said Mr. Scott.
BWTP reached out to Perry and Perry but did not hear back from the firm. “Frankly, we are genuinely concerned about the future of this project,” Mr. Scott said. “We are worried that the $168,000 for the architect will be whittled away until we’re left with a plan that is unsuitable for anyone. Based on our earlier concern about actually getting an architect, we don’t think it’s a stretch that we’re worried now.”
“We are all so close to a building that will benefit this community for decades to come,” Mr. Scott concluded. “So, to address the potential roadblocks to this project, we have questions. When will we be working with council? May we see the draft design for the arts and events centre, please? What is council’s vision for an arts and events centre?”
BWTP founding member Marilyn Wohlberg added, “You have the opportunity to bring this to fruition to the community for generations to come. For youth, for years to come, year-round. Many people are willing to work to make this a better place to live.”
Council thanked BWTP for attending.
