Proposed arts funding in Winnipeg includes more than $800K for long-vacant Pantages Theatre

Four performing arts organizations in Winnipeg are in line for $2 million in grants, including the 110-year-old Pantages Playhouse Theatre, a national historic site that has sat unused since 2019.

"It's great news and we applaud [Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham] and the city," said Cindy Tugwell, executive director of Heritage Winnipeg.

"I know he says [the grants are] to support downtown core and strength in Winnipeg's arts and cultural sector, but I would add to that, very importantly, [they support] our built heritage, too."

There's always fear when a building sits vacant for too long, especially one with historical significance, she said. However, Pantages was given historical protection in 1981, so heat and regular inspections had to be maintained to ensure it didn't meet its end through neglect.

"We have been watching this for quite a while since it was sold and we were hoping, fingers crossed, that this would start moving forward," Tugwell said.

The organizations will get the boost through the Downtown Arts Capital Fund, which was introduced in the city's 2024-27 multi-year budget and allocates annual funding for capital projects.

Gillingham announced Wednesday that the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Performing Arts Consortium of Winnipeg will get $87,500 for 2024 and $250,000 annually from 2025-27 through the fund for a capital renovation at Pantages.

The other three organizations named to receive money from the fund are:

• The Royal Winnipeg Ballet — $87,500 for 2024 and $250,000 annually from 2025-27 for modernization and expansion of its downtown campus.
• Manitoba Opera — $25,000 to upgrade computer systems and ticketing technology.
• The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre — $300,000 for the community safety and accessibility project.

In the case of Pantages, the funds will help cover a feasibility study that was undertaken to determine what the theatre needs to make it a functioning live space once again.

"These institutions … contribute to and really establish Winnipeg's cultural identity," Gillingham said. "Not only do they entertain, but they drive economic activity within our city as well."

Many performing arts organizations felt the impact of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, he said. 

"This investment in our arts organizations is an investment in the future of downtown Winnipeg, and it's an investment in the culture of Winnipeg."

The funding is currently listed as proposed because it must still be approved by city council.

"I trust [the vote] will be unanimous," said Coun. Sherri Rollins, who emceed Wednesday's news conference.

"I'm obviously concerned with the longevity and the sustainability of arts funding, because it contributes to vibrancy. It is why we find our home in the downtown. And we're lucky because council believes in that formula, too."

WSO working on Pantages plans

Pantages Theatre, near the corner of Market Avenue and Main Street, was named a National Historic Site of Canada in 1989 because it is one of the few surviving, and one of the finest, vaudeville theatres built between 1913-30, according to the designation from the federal government.

Opened in February 1914, the now 1,475-seat theatre was an important stop on the vaudeville circuit, featuring performances by stars including Buster Keaton, Ella Fitzgerald and Stan Laurel.

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet also made its premiere there in June 1940, and performed there until the Centennial Concert Hall was constructed in 1967.

The theatre was taken over by the City of Winnipeg for tax arrears in the 1930s and sold to a new owner in 1943, but it was seized for taxes again in 1945.

The Performing Arts Consortium of Winnipeg, a charitable organization, assumed responsibility for its management in February 1998, until the city agreed to sell it for $530,000 to two businessmen in 2019.

That original deal had to be renegotiated in 2020 because of a snafu involving the protection of a monument to the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike in front of the theatre, and in July of that year, the city said the owners had agreed to sell Pantages for $1 to the consortium, which promised to raise $10-$15 million to restore it and install a management team to operate it.

The plan is for one of the main tenants to be the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, which currently performs the majority of its concerts at the Centennial Concert Hall, across the street from Pantages.

The symphony is now working with the consortium on its potential project to refurbish the theatre and make it "a gem of an orchestral hall" that would host about two-thirds of the WSO's concerts each year, and will also be available to a "wide variety" of other community groups and arts organizations, said Angela Birdsell, the symphony's executive director.

However, "we're not ready to announce any plans yet," Birdsell said.

All three levels of government and the private sector have been approached for funding, but "we've still got quite a ways to go before we can actually say the project's going to go forward."

The WSO does plan to start consultations in the spring with potential users of the theatre, she said, and that will likely be followed by a major capital campaign.

"We raised some money from private individuals and foundations for the design phase only, and that was completed in January," said Birdsell. It's unlikely the theatre will reopen before 2028, she said.

"Like I like to say people, it's not a lick of paint, new curtains," she said. "This is a major, major project, [a] major overhaul of the theatre."

But the city funding announced Wednesday is "a huge vote of confidence," she said.

"We're absolutely thrilled that the City of Winnipeg is demonstrating this kind of leadership to be the first in, to say, 'We have faith in this. We want to see it go forward.'"

The funding will go beyond being a boost for Pantages and the WSO, she said.

"I think it's very intelligent to invest, because if you give up on the performing arts downtown, you're basically giving up on the downtown," said Birdsell.

"We really do bring people here, and the more foot traffic you have in the downtown area, the more people are going to want to come downtown, and that's just good for everyone."