Summary
The Regional Arts Facilities Select Committee was created by the CRD Board in 2019 to facilitate a public discussion on regional arts facilities in the region. In 2021, the committee delivered final recommendations to the CRD Board and concluded its activities.
In 2020 the Select Committee, through a consultant, conducted a process of community engagement and input to develop an inventory and oversight of performing art facilities, including their functions and roles within the current arts ecosystem, a gap analysis of facilities, considerations of equity, intersections of local and regional interests, funding and sustainability, challenges, suggested modifications and improvements (short and long term), partnerships and other relevant issues as may arise.
Incremental summary reports from these engagements are available at PlaceSpeak. This process concluded with a report entitled Stage One: A Public Conversation about Performing Arts Facilities in the CRD (PDF). Based on the report, the Select Committee forwarded a recommendation to the CRD Board to create a new regional service for performing arts facilities.
On March 10, 2021, the CRD Board passed a motion "to begin the process of establishing a regional service for the purposes of planning, developing and funding of performing arts facilities that have regional impact." The Board approved $150,000 in the 2021 budget for costs related to the establishment of the service and directed the Chair to create the Performing Arts Facilities Select Committee to oversee the work related to establishing a performing arts service.
At the September 8, 2021 Board Meeting, the CRD Board defeated a motion from the Select Committee to proceed with a regional Alternative Approval Process as a means to obtain elector approval for Bylaw No. 4445, establishing a Regional Performing Arts Facilities Service. On October 13, 2021, the CRD Board directed staff to take no further action related to Bylaw No. 4445 nor to the Alternative Approval Process. Staff were directed to report back to the Select Committee with options regarding moving forward with a full regional service that does not include the Alternative Approval Process as well as a sub-regional arts facilities service option.
On February 9, 2022, the CRD Board referred the matter of finding “a new way for the CRD to support performing arts facilities with regional impact” to the next elected CRD Board as part of their Strategic Planning process, to take place after the October 2022 municipal elections.