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Media Centre - News Release
City’s “Findings” report further confirms urgent need for arts
facility
(Posted December 19, 2002)
Orléans, Ontario – An interim “Findings” report released today by the
City of Ottawa as part of its East District Arts Needs Assessment
process further justifies the pressing need for an east end arts
facility, says the Chair of the Equality East Citizens’ Coalition, J.-F.
Claude.
The Findings report, commissioned by the City and prepared by Sports
Links Consultants’ Richard Lussier, states that the east end arts
community is in “dire need of adequate cultural facilities.” The report
also concludes that the former Cumberland Town Hall building is
“unsuitable as the focal point of the East District's new cultural
facility,” while noting that the adjacent site on Centrum Boulevard in
Orléans would be “the most favourable location” for the proposed arts
centre.
“We welcome the initial findings in the Sports Links Consultants report,
but the devil will be in the details of the recommendations put forward
when the final report comes out in February,” says J.-F. Claude. “There
are still issues of funding, governance, programming, design and
function that need to be addressed.”
Claude notes that in the last 10 years, at least four previous studies
have all confirmed the need for an east end arts centre and defined its
physical components: “The arts facility project has been studied to
death. Enough with the paper-pushing, let’s have the architectural plans
drawn up and let’s get some shovels into the ground,” says Claude.
Claude also points out that the east end arts facility was recently
identified as one of the Top Five citywide recreational and cultural
priorities in Phase II of the City’s Facility Needs Study. The
independent study was conducted by Toronto-based dmA Planning and
Management Services, a consulting firm specializing in recreation,
cultural, sport and library services.
“The City’s current assessment process and the Equality East campaign
both confirm the arts facility to be our community’s top priority,” says
Claude. “We find it hard to believe that out of a $2-billion annual
budget, there isn’t $8-million (0.4%) to fund the only project in the
Top Five citywide priority list for which no municipal funding is being
provided.”
The Equality East campaign for the east end arts centre received the
support of 58 community-based organisations, representing a registered
membership of over 11,000 individuals and an estimated annual audience
reach of almost 300,000.
The Sports Links Consultants’ Findings report also notes that the east
end community is “getting frustrated and upset over the perceived lack
of interest and sense of urgency by the city in providing an adequate
cultural facility,” adding that “the absence of any real commitment as
to financing or setting timelines has increased supporters' cynicism.”
“Our four east end councillors have until the January 8 City Council
budget meeting to restore our community’s faith in the system,” says
Claude. “If the voice of 58 east end community groups united in a common
cause can’t be heard at City Hall during a budget process, then it’s
painfully obvious it can only be heard at the ballot box,” he concludes.
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Source:
J.-F. Claude, Chair, Equality East Citizens’ Coalition, (613) 837-7950 |
