Sudbury's Place des Arts seeking $260K from the city towards annual operating costs

Construction of Sudbury's Place des Arts is expected to begin in the near future, and the francophone arts centre is now looking to the city for help with its annual operating costs.

The centre is asking the city for a yearly contribution of $260,000, which represents about 20 per cent of its annual budget, estimated at $1.3 million.

Last year, city council approved a $5 million capital grant for the centre, as well as the land at the corner of Larch and Elgin streets, where the building will be constructed.

The centre also received federal and provincial grants, as well as funding from other private sources.

"Now that they have all their grant money for their building, hopefully within the next month or so we'll see a shovel in the ground start the actual physical process," city councillor Rene Lapierre, who brought the request to council, said on Tuesday.

"And then from then on the operational needs will start, because they've got to hire an executive director to prepare the programming, so that when the building is done in 2020 they're ready to go. The ribbons are cut, the doors are open and they start moving."

In the hole?

The funding request didn't sit well with some city councillors, however.

For Ward 3 councillor Gerry Montpellier, it was a sign the centre is already in the red. He did not support a motion to have staff prepare a business case for the funding.

"I'm very disappointed in the whole deal that they're already claiming that they're in the hole," Montpellier said.

Ward 8 councillor Al Sizer, who did support the motion, said he was not keen to hear the centre was looking for money and hoped it would do it's due diligence to reduce operating costs.

Lapierre assured council Place des Arts was not starting at a deficit, adding that council already knew the funding request was coming.

"Part of their business plan that they told us, council, that we approved before giving them $5 million, was that they were going to come back to us with a request," he said. "They'll figure out how to make it work if they don't get it."

Funding for the arts

The city currently provides annual grants to a variety of arts groups, including operating funding for larger brick-and-mortar organizations, like the Sudbury Theatre Centre.

Some councillors, including Ward 7's Mike Jakubo, asked if the business case could reflect the city's overall contribution to the arts.

"I...want to know how this level of funding for Place des Arts would relate to the level of funding we currently provide to other arts organizations in the city, for their operations and their capital facilities, so that we have a really fulsome picture of what we're being asked for," Jakubo said.

The business case for the centre's funding request will be prepared for the 2019 budget process.