The City of Nelson has approved a grant of $150,000 to the Nelson Civic Theatre Society to cover operational costs during the closure of the theatre while two successive renovations are carried out over the next year.
The theatre society plans to renovate the theatre to create two more screens at a cost of $4.2 million. All but $700,000 of that has been raised, and the group is still fundraising. In July, the city agreed to help the theatre society by giving it access to a line of credit to support its fundraising for the renovation of the theatre.
The grant approved at the Sept. 10 meeting is for a different purpose.
The internal renovations have been put on hold and the theatre forced to close while the City of Nelson, which owns the building, carries out repairs to the unsafe roof of the building. When the roof repairs are complete in December, the internal theatre renovations can start.
The grant is not intended to pay for the theatre renovations but rather to cover wages and other administrative costs during the period of the city's roof repairs.
Board chair Eleanor Stacey told council that without the grant the society faces insolvency.
"Despite our careful financial management enabling us to close the 2021-22 fiscal year in the black and achieving a surplus in the first quarter of 2024, the prolonged renovation timeline has placed us in a dire financial predicament," Stacey wrote in a letter to council. "We have always expected a closure during our own renovation project, which we are budgeting for within our own project, but the city’s additional closure is more than we can manage."
Chief financial officer Chris Jury told council that if they approve the grant, it would come from a $4-million surplus achieved by the city at the end of 2023 and can be used for one-off projects or purposes.
Council approved the grant unanimously, after Councillor Rik Logtenberg expressed some doubts. But he said his appreciation of the Civic Theatre won out.
"This is more than just about bridging some operational funding so that people can continue their job until the repairs are done," Logtenberg said. "I think it is more about holding that institution together."
Councillor Kate Tait said the Civic Theatre Society is a cultural cornerstone on par with the Capitol Theatre and the Nelson Museum Archives and Gallery, to which the city provides some operational funding.
Tait and Councillor Leslie Payne both pointed out the theatre's role in truth and reconciliation, referencing the Stoodis Indigenous Film Festival, which will be held this year in the Shoebox Theatre and at the Civic Drive-in Theatre.
"The fact that they've made it this far and are still standing is admirable to me," Payne said, referring to the society as "a creative and interesting group that we are really privileged to have here in our town."
