Centre in the Square to focus on community over commercial interests

After hours of deliberation, Kitchener councillors voted to pursue a new mandate for Centre in the Square, opting to have the venue focus on local community and cultural groups instead of adopting a commercially-driven outlook.

The decision was made during a finance and corporate services committee meeting Monday, where councillors heard from the team of consultants hired to create two new mandate options for the city's premier arts facility.

The consulting company, known as ArtsBuild Ontario, met with Centre in the Square's staff, board and over 200 key stakeholders, as well as the venue's resident arts groups which include the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, before creating its report.

It also conducted 8,000 surveys with area residents, 3,400 of which live in Kitchener. 

The extensive process resulted in two mandates, one with a more cultural focus, the other a more commercial one.

Council prepared to take financial hit

Council heard that the Centre in the Square would prefer a more commercially-geared mandate, giving it the freedom to book a variety of acts, local and touring, into the facility with a focus on growing audience and generating revenue.

"I'd really like our focus as Centre in the Square to be audience, the general public, what I think will animate them, engage them," said Sandra Bender, executive director of Centre in the Square.  

This option, the report suggested however, could dramatically change the relationship both the symphony and the art gallery had with the venue, as it would alter their roles from founding partners to tenants. 

For these reasons, Council voted eight to three in favour of the mandate option that best served its community and cultural interests, agreeing to take a potential financial hit in the process. 

"I think it's very clear for me that really my focus and my audience is no longer the general public. It really is arts organizations and how do I make sure they succeed in my hall," said Bender.

"I just hope that councillors stick to what they suggested ... [that] they have a threshold of pain to pay for it."