As Okotoks council considers a potential partnership with the Foothills School Division for a community theatre, it’s imperative those devilish details get worked out to everyone’s satisfaction.
I don’t think many would argue with the contention that Okotoks’ cultural facilities aren’t top notch given the performing arts are in an old church, the visual arts can be found in an old train station and the community’s history is housed in a historic home. Purpose-built, they’re not.
The cost to build a performing arts theatre can be prohibitive so I can see why civic politicians are intrigued by the idea of partnering with the school division for a theatre at a high school to be constructed in the Wedderburn neighbourhood. It would be a heck of a lot cheaper than going it alone.
Where I came from in Greater Vancouver, the city and school district made a similar deal years ago, although this was for a new theatre attached to an old high school. It was heralded as a solution – and stop me if you’ve heard this before – for inadequate community arts facilities, giving groups like the local theatre troupe and dance studios a much nicer place to stage their productions.
The shiny new toy was initially embraced but after a honeymoon period, the community groups that were meant to benefit began realizing the rental costs didn’t make long-term economic sense.
I can’t recall all the details but I do remember that staffing costs (for things like lights and sound, janitorial, security, etc.) associated with a rental added so much to the cost that it wasn’t feasible for community organizations to use it on a regular basis.
The theatre group, which required the space for two or three weeks at a time for its productions, eventually moved into an arts centre that was subsequently created – and stop me if you’ve heard this before – in an old church.
The theatre ended up hiring someone to try and book acts to help fill dates because it sat empty most nights, an effort that only yielded so much success. When I left town five years ago, the theatre was getting some amount of use but not to the extent that those signing the original agreement had envisioned. It clearly hadn’t become a ‘community’ theatre.
Now, I’m not suggesting that’s going to happen should the Town and school division partner on a theatre at the new high school, but it’s imperative that if such a deal is struck that access is clearly spelled out. It's not just a matter of allowing public use, but allowing public use at a cost that the public can afford.
If that’s not part of the agreement, then the partnership isn’t going to work.
The other half of the equation when it comes to a new theatre – and one that Mayor Tanya Thorn has rightly raised – is whether there’s sufficient demand to justify the expenditure. Old Church Theatre has its limitations, but it’s also not terribly busy.
Given towns of this size typically have something more substantial, perhaps it will be a case of if you build it, they will come.
