Sudbury Performing Arts Centre on hold due to nickel prices

We don't like to say we told you so, but...
This year NetGain completed a review of another consultant's feasibility study for a new performing arts centre in the city of Sudbury. We saw many similarities between the anticipated problems and success of this PAC and the North York Performing Arts Centre, for which we have completed a series of studies over the past 7 years or so.
At the time, the Greater Sudbury city committee leading the process wanted to build a centre of about 1800 seats, which we felt was far too large for the city, its current arts/culture market and its stated goals of revitalizing business downtown and serving the local arts community. This size was already being debated within the arts community itself. In fact, one of the things we mentioned in our final report to the client was to be very cautious, because a downturn in nickel prices could severely affect the city's fortunes and their ability and desire to subsidize a new PAC in perpetuity. Lo and behold, the following article came out this week.

Report on Business:

Closed mines, broken dreams in the town that nickel built

ANDY HOFFMAN
From Friday's Globe and Mail
December 5, 2008 at 12:56 AM EST
SUDBURY, ONT. — When John Rodriguez became Mayor of Sudbury in November, 2006, things had never looked better for the city whose economic fortunes have always been inextricably linked to the price of nickel.
The price of the metal was rocketing to record levels and Mr. Rodriguez saw opportunity for Sudbury to spiff up its image and shed its reputation as a hardscrabble mining town beholden to the vagaries of the boom and bust commodity cycle.
He unveiled plans for a massive recreation complex and a $167-million performing arts centre. Mr. Rodriguez planned to tap the new foreign owners of the region's major nickel operations for cash. Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce and Swiss-based Xstrata PLC had just shelled out nearly $40-billion combined to buy in to the Sudbury Basin. “I was going to ask for big bucks,” Mr. Rodriguez said in an interview.
Yet the mayor's dreams of building a world-class performing arts centre are now on hold. Vale and Xstrata are cutting production in Sudbury and closing mines because of a sudden and severe crash in base metal prices brought on by the global financial crisis.
“This is not the time to do it because the economy is falling apart,” he said.

Read the rest of the article here.

But do you want to share your culture?

Doug and I have wrapped up our trip to B.C.

We are exploring the possibility of fundraising for the QCCC (left). I took some photos on my phone. They're not great quality but they show the potential of the site, which sits on the banks of the Cowichan River. The QCCC has an excellent business plan in hand, developed by Rod Smith and his colleagues at Festival management inc. (Fmi), for restoring the facilities and redeveloping their cultural programming. There are a number of great, new Aboriginal Cultural Centres in and around B.C. and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics have brought significant funding to B.C attractions. On the other hand it was still a stretch to find something to do in the off-season in and around Nanaimo as I had forgotten my hiking boots and we could not find a sea kayaking place still renting in November. Luckily, it was a beautiful day when we made the initial site visit.

We wanted to answer three key questions before taking a case for support to potential funders.

1) Why will the future of a funded QCCC be different from the past? (A past composed as far as we can tell of scandal, alleged theft and alleged embezzlement, questionable tourist appeal and little use or support from the Cowichan community itself).

2) What is the cultural centre for? The Khowutzun Development Corporation, the "economic development arm fo the Cowichan Tribes" seems to be primarily interested in job creation. But, as we suggested to the GM of the QCCC, if job creation and revenue generation is the most important thing, then why not create the hotel and conference centre and expand the banquet business currently in place? Inter-cultural learning and sharing is superfluous.

3) Whose project is this? (Who generated it? Who will provide oversight throughout? And, who will lead it through to completion?)

We arrived at the last question by way of a conversation with the Aboriginal Studies Department head of the newly formed Vancouver Island University, and through reflection on previous Aboriginal tourism projects. Doug was involved in creating a marketing plan for Six Nations' disparate tourist attractions in Ontario as well as a revitalization of Wanuskewin Heritage Park, out in the Prairies.

The issue of "Aboriginal tourism" is divisive. Even where tribe leaders or band councils decide to move forth with tourism planning and consulting, there has been dissent within the community, members who don't want tourists on the Reservation and certainly don't want to invest in bringing them there or making them feel welcome. Is the community interested in sharing its culture and history with non-Aboriginals? How much of it? What is sacred and cannot or should not be shared? Who will have the right to disseminate this information and in what way? These are questions that can only be answered by the communities themselves. And the answer has to be, yes, we do want to share because...in the case of Wanuskewin, "to increas[e] public awareness, understanding and appreciation of the cultural legacy of the Northern Plains First Nations people."

Do the Cowichan tribes want to share? And if so, why? These questions have to be answered before we can move their project forward.

(Photos: Julia Dow)

New project takes NetGain to Vancouver Island

Photo: Cowichan Feather Headdress, courtesy of First People

NetGain is off to Duncan, B.C. next week to contribute fundraising expertise to the redevelopment of the Quw'utsun' (Cowichan) Cultural and Conference Centre, located in the Cowichan Valley. It is a matter of public record that the Centre has been plagued by mismanagement, dwindling popularity amongst both the native community and tourists, and, as NetGain can say with confidence at the launch of most projects, "the status quo is intolerable."

B.C. interests have risen on a crest of excitement and goodwill around the 2010 Olympics, but business is general, as we are all aware, has not been great.

More to come and I promise to send photos when on site as well.