Ottawa theatre gets federal funding, concert hall on hold
Ottawa's Great Canadian Theatre Company is closer to paying for its new theatre complex after getting a $3-million grant from the federal government.
Heritage Minister Bev Oda and Treasury Board president John Baird announced the federal grant on Wednesday.
The$3 millionwill go to the company's new Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre, named after a benefactor whose family gave $2.6 million to the group. The 270-seat theatre is part of a larger residential-commercial complex being developed in Hintonburg, a neighbourhood west of downtown Ottawa.
The province has injected $2.6 million and the city $1.3 million into the $10.5-million project, which is now under construction. The centre, which includes a smaller studio performance space, two-storey theatre lobbyand space for set construction, could be open by next year.
The non-profit GCTC, whichis in its 32nd year of operation, plans six productions in the 2006-7 season.It will operate the theatre and surrounding arts space in the Greenberg centre. Until now,the companyhas operated out of a converted truck garage.
The Department of Canadian Heritage still has not announced whether it will give money towardanother Ottawa cultural project, the Concert Hall.
Concert hall in the wings
The Ottawa Chamber Music Society has proposed a $27.6-million concert hall in central Ottawa and won $6.5 million in funding from the province and $6.1 million from the city toward the project.
Cynthia White-Thornley, director-general of arts policy at Canadian Heritage, said the department continues to talk with the Concert Hall Group.
"Certainly any contribution we make we like to see a certain amount of community support, whether that is one philanthropist making a large contribution or many philanthropists, many private citizens giving small amounts," she told CBC Radio.
"What's always important to us is that the organization is well supported by the community."
She said the Concert Hall group needs to prove that it has its funding sources in place and a viable business plan.