PGPG News covers the PAC development meeting

From PGTV News:

City Centre Ventures was very pleased, but not surprised by the big crowd at a special forum last night to explore the feasibility of having a performing arts centre in Prince George . Over 250 people turned out to the event hosted by the downtown development arm of Initiatives Prince George. Initiatives President Gerry Offet, says the purpose of the meeting was to get a feel from the community on exactly what they're looking for in such a facility in terms of location, use and costs.

BoredinPG.com covers the meeting

Local arts scene forum BoredinPG.com covered the meeting with a camera and video:

I went to the meeting to grab some video and hopefully edit it soon, I was quite surprised on the turn out, the room was packed! I thought it was going to be like 20 people! They have an email address setup and I didn't catch it at the time but will get it for you guys, so you can send in your comments! Hopefully this all comes together, having a kickass venue, and then bring some cool groups up!

I hope to get some video from Paul, and also from Bill Russell, and post it here soon.

Arts centre forum attracts big crowd: Citizen

"Whether it's called a Performing Arts Centre or a Centre for the Arts, it looks like it's going downtown Prince George," according to the Prince George Citizen.

The first meeting in the long process of exploring the feasibility of having an arts centre in Prince George was attended by more than 250 people at the Ramada hotel Thursday night. It was hosted by City Centre Ventures, the downtown development arm of Initiatives Prince George.

"This will be a community partnership, with City Centre Ventures providing administrative and technical expertise to that committee," Offet said.

He added the arts centre needs to be a facility that will be in constant use, where a large number of people will be using the facility during a 16-hour day. He suggested multi-use is the key to success with studios, galleries, activity centres, arts programming, and performances taking place under one roof.

Click here for the full story.

Full House for Performing Arts Centre Forum: Opinion250

Some nice coverage of the meeting by Michelle Cyr-Whiting from Opinion250.

The capacity crowd of more than 150 people at the Ramada this evening included representatives from: the Prince George Symphony Orchestra, Cantata Singers, Downtown Prince George, Theatre Northwest, Exploration Place, Enchainement Productions, CNC, B&B Music, and the Conservatory of Music - just to name a few of the close to 30 groups present.

UNBC’s Vice-President Special Projects, Dr. Sharon Cochran, is one of the steering group members. Dr. Cochran says such a centre would provide the University with an opportunity to pursue one of the elements of its new academic vision - artistic/cultural expression. Dr. Cochran says it would also further enhance the educational experience for students and build further partnerships between UNBC, the city and region. She says, "The bottom line is, we’re strongly supportive of this."

Many in the crowd voiced their support this evening. The PGSO’s Chris Monroe says that the Symphony is enthusiastically supportive, has a centre of this type in its long-term business plan, and wants to participate.

Downtown Prince George President, Shari Green, says "We are definitely in support of this and are hoping it will be a downtown facility. We believe it will certainly enhance the quality of our night life in our downtown and that people won’t be rolling up their shutters and going home at 5:30. We’d like to see a much longer day in our downtown core." The group represents over 200 property owners and 300 businesses in the city’s core.

Click here to read the full story and follow the comment thread.

What are you're thoughts from the meeting?

Please use the comment link on this post to write about your impressions of the meeting, the opportunities you see, the challenges you feel we face, and ideas you have to move the project forward.

Thanks so much for your input.

Also, if you'd like to be notified periodically when this blog is updated, please send me an e-mail here.

Gerry Offet talks with James Evans on CBC

This morning Gerry Offet was interviewed by James Evans of Daybreak North on CBC:

When I came here three years ago I was really impressed with the variety and quality of the local performing arts. It astounded me when I learned that the venues were scattered all over the city, that one group is using a converted warehouse, another group a converted firehall, and many groups are using an auditorium in a high school.

Most communities in North America of our size and with our cultural diversity do make an investment in a performing arts centre.

Here's the entire interview (5:44):


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Offet makes reference to an investment marketing study that was done last year. That report, entitled "Downtown Prince George Marketing Implementation Plan," can be found here.

Creative Economy resources added to sidebar

I've added a number of information resources to the sidebar. Of course, more will be added as I acquire them, but here's a nice sample:

From the Memphis Manifesto:

Creativity is fundamental to being human and is a critical resource to individual, community and economic life. Creative communities are vibrant, humanizing places, nurturing personal growth, sparking cultural and technological breakthroughs, producing jobs and wealth, and accepting a variety of life styles and culture.

and

1. Cultivate and reward creativity. Everyone is part of the value chain of creativity. Creativity can happen at anytime, anywhere, and it’s happening in your community right now. Pay attention.

2. Invest in the creative ecosystem. The creative ecosystem can include arts and culture, nightlife, the music scene, restaurants, artists and designers, innovators, entrepreneurs, affordable spaces, lively neighborhoods, spirituality, education, density, public spaces and third places.

From the New England Council Creative Economy Initiative we have this:

Arts education teaches the very skills that will be required by the 21st century workforce as a whole, not just those who work directly in the arts and cultural sectors.

and

Because creative activity affects all area of the economy, including those that aren't necessarily directly associated with the arts, decision makers at every level will need to have a hand in determining cultural policy.

Happy reading!

Invitation to download, print, e-mail, share

For those who want to help spread the word, here's and invitation you can download and print, or e-mail to your contact list.

It's the one I've been using as I go all around downtown to encourage more people to attend the meeting — I think it's important that those who own businesses or work downtown also attend to support more positive development downtown.

The pdf can be downloaded by clicking here.

PGSO gets grant, or how our community gets an economic shot in the arm because of performing arts

The Prince George Citizen reports today that the Prince George Symphony Orchestra has received a $60,037 grant from the Vancouver Foundation, Canada's largest community foundation.

The dollars match those from private donations earmarked for endowment, which have been invested with the Prince George Community Foundation, and the investment income will be used by the PGSO to maintain fiscal stability and pursue new initiatives which will enhance programming for the community.

This is a perfect example of how big money comes to our community from the outside because we have professional performing arts organizations. The BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and BC Lottery Corporation are also big funders of this particular organization, and this "reclaiming" of our tax money sent out of our community depends on organizations like the PGSO.

Imagine what more could be done with a propper facility.

How BC won the Olympic opportunity: artists

Many likely read this when it appeared as a Citizen letter to the editior September 1, 2003.

An excerpt:

Supporters of our winning bid have artists to thank, and should know the bid, from the logo to the bid book to the promotional video, was a result of hundreds of artists working in numerous disciplines. Graphic designers, musicians, writers, photographers, dancers, cinematographers, architects and other creative talents are primarily responsible for winning "the first gold medal of the games," as Gordon Campbell is fond of saying. Quite literally, our art beat their art, and we've won an economic opportunity we didn't have before.

Full letter here.