Performing arts centre is worth a harder look

Opinion London Frre Prres May 10 2008

London board of control is backing a plan to study the need for a performing arts centre. City council should, too. It's a controversial item, to be sure, but it's necessary. London has been talking about a performing arts centre almost from the moment Centennial Hall opened in the late 1960s. Nobody can accuse us of jumping on a performing arts bandwagon, but most Londoners know we simply cannot dismiss the idea outright either. In a high-tech world, the time may well be long past for a performing arts centre, but then again, we don't know that. There may be greater need for such a place now than ever. The time may be exactly right. True, current economic conditions may not be immediately conducive, but any project will take a considerable contribution from federal and provincial coffers, and such money does not come easily or quickly. It takes years, lots of talk, lots of information, lots of debate and lots of ducks in the right rows from the city. That's why a study, while expensive, is money well spent. It will cost about $70,000, but it will provide us with the fundamentals of a business plan that decision-makers will require before spending more than $70 million or more on an actual facility. True, the study may be outdated before a facility gets built, but it's hard to imagine much of the information won't be useful for a long time. Without a study, we may lose momentum. What momentum? -- that's what many Londoners will ask. The answer is that the momentum is there, and clearly has been there for 25 years. It waxes and wanes, but there are many, many Londoners who have put in endless volunteer hours to promote a performing arts centre. There are many others who are increasingly aware that even while they might not use it themselves, it will be a benefit to London, to Londoners and to our economic development -- it may even be vital to our collective future. The creative city is increasingly front and centre in the thinking of public and private economic developers, and a performing arts centre, while only one part of that, is also pretty central to it. Can we be a truly creative city without a performing arts centre? That too is worth studying. How will it function? Where will it be located? Who will operate it? Who will pay? Who will play? Will they come? Is it necessary? Is it old-fashioned or completely and utterly modern? Is its time past or just beginning? We don't want to leave these questions -- and so many others -- unanswered. -- Paul Berton, Paul.Berton@sunmedia.ca