Arts and Culture Centre

Board Governance Framework Development

Board Governance is one of the key factors in establishing a sustainable Arts and Culture Centre that must be held to high standards expected by the community, government funders and other stakeholders.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued (January 19, 2018) by the Town to select a consultant to develop a Board Governance Framework. This project will involve participation from community stakeholders.

McInnes Cooper of Halifax NS was awarded the project.

Final Report input was collected from multiple engagements activities: Public consultation session held April 10, 2018; One-on-one interviews with diverse individuals representing the arts, business, cultural backgrounds, regional government representatives, and different age-groups within Yarmouth County.

Final Report Presentation, Board Governance Framework presented at the July 5, 2018 Public Meeting can be found in the Document Library.

Phase 1 (January 2018 to May 2018) - extended to August 2018

In this phase of the project, we have two sub-projects that we will need your participation. They are the: (1) Concept Design and Feasibility Study and (2) Board Governance Framework development.

Concept Design and Feasibility Study

MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects has been selected through an RFP process, to work on the Concept Design and Feasibility Study. The project team will provide expertise and guidance in theatre and space planning design, market research and feasibility analysis.

As in the earlier phase of the project, your input will play an important role in helping to define the uses and needs of the space. A feasibility analysis and capital budget will be developed based on those needs/wants to be presented back to the Steering Committee for decision making in September 2018.

Three public stakeholder sessions were held on January 31, 2018, February 21, 2018, and on March 21, 2018, lead by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects (MLSA). Input from these three sessions were taken into consideration by the MLSA to develop the Concept Design, Class D Construction Cost Estimate and Operating Model Assumptions.

Concept Design with Class D Construction Estimate (all costs) and Market Trends Analysis was presented in a public presentation on Thursday July 5, 2018.

Work left to be presented by MLSA Team is the Operating Cost Model and Economic Impact Analysis in August 2018.

Concept Design, Market Trends Analysis presentation can be found in the Document Library.

Board Governance Framework Development

Board Governance is one of the key factors in establishing a sustainable Arts and Culture Centre that must be held to high standards expected by the community, government funders and other stakeholders.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) has been issued (January 19, 2018) by the Town that will select a consultant to develop a Board Governance Framework. This project will involve participation from community stakeholders.

Public Consultation was held April 10, 2018.

Background:

In 2010, Yarmouth Town Council adopted the Yarmouth Downtown Blueprint Plan, which lays out a 20-year vision to revitalize the downtown.

The plan, developed by Ekistics Planning and Design, envisions that by 2030 downtown Yarmouth will be the cultural hub of western Nova Scotia. Residents and tourists alike will be drawn to downtown for its culture and history. They will stroll streetscapes where a blend of heritage and modern buildings will be home to galleries, theatres, boutiques and artisans workshops. They will be able to see a play, hear a concert, enjoy a dance troupe performing at one of several outside performance venues. One-of-a-kind specialty shops will be clustered around a major new arts centre that will foster creativity and the arts.

In 2017, Town Council’s Strategic Priorities renewed that call for an arts and culture centre to be located in the downtown, in order to establish a major new public destination for the downtown to rally around.

The project space is adjacent to the Collins Heritage Conservation District, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Alma Square. It will be a dynamic space dedicated to arts, cultural engagement, and commerce with additional publicly accessible space for community gatherings.

On October 10, 2017 a public presentation was made by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects at the Rodd Grand Hotel with 70 people in attendance. At the meeting, MacKay-Lyons reported back what they heard from two visioning stakeholder workshops, and in meetings with Yarmouth Town Council, and the Yarmouth Arts Regional Council. The full presentation is available here.

Two goals identified for this phase of the project were: Goal one - to identify a downtown site that would serve the needs of a regional arts and culture centre. Goal two - to engage a broad cross-section of stakeholders in the arts and culture community, in workshops to gather ideas on how THEY see this site being used to best serve all the identified needs and dreams.

The property located at 5 Collins Street was recommended by MacKay-Lyons for the project.

Two visioning exercises were held with over 55 people in attendance representing a broad cross-section of the arts and culture community, and produced an interpretation of what the project could look like into a Concept Vision.