232807
231186

Penticton  

'New tomorrow' at Shatford

The Okanagan School of the Arts needs public support and more major tenants to have a long-term future in Penticton.

Around 80 people attended a special meeting of the OSA board Thursday night for what was initially intended to be a painful decision on whether the society was to dissolve or not.

City funding buys the non-profit society six more months of operating at the historic Shatford Centre. “The fact that the city has come in and bailed us out has given us a new tomorrow,” said OSA board president Robin Robertson.

Prior to the $47,000 bail out, the organization was running an unsustainable budget — the Shatford Centre is in need of repairs and upgrades, around $1.4 million worth of long-term fixes, with an estimated $125,000 in upgrades needed in the short-term future.

The OSA could remain afloat with four good anchor tenants renting space in the Shatford, Robertson said. The silver lining to the initial news of possibly dissolving was the attention it brought to the OSA, with a rush of membership sign-ups in the past week.

“One of the good things about bad things is lots of people are coming forth since there was the controversy, since it went public. We do have some warm leads,” Robertson said.

She could not speak to specifics on possible future tenants, but Robertson said a few are arts-related and one is “innovation-related.”

OSA board member Keith MacIntyre told the crowd early talks are going well for the renewal of a $1-a-year lease with School District 67 with “multiple options on the table,” as the previous 10-year lease with the district is coming to an end.

“There seems to be no problem with developing another lease,” MacIntyre said.

Roughly 40 minutes of comments from the crowd brought some positive, and some disparaging remarks for the board, with some saying the plan for the future of the OSA and Shatford Centre lacked specifics and was full of “buzz words.”

“Maybe we are not explaining our mission and vision very well. We need to really look at how we are explaining that to people and talk with our members more and carry on. We have to be sustainable,” Robertson said.

The board is aiming to get the message out to the community to those looking to donate, invest, rent studio space or host events while seeking out strong tenants.

“We’re hoping six months is enough of a runway to get in, and we will continue to get in, some anchor tenants. It’s the only way we can keep this building open,” Robertson said. “We are going to leave space for the other stuff too. We’re not saying we’re no longer doing short-term arts programming. I hope people didn’t hear that.”



More Penticton News



232391