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Theatre expansion concept under development
Kenneth Wong
reporter@merrittherald.com
A weekend under rain didn’t stop bikers at the Nicola Valley Bar Bender. Page 33. Photo/Laísa Condé
FLOOD SURVIVOR
Merritt resident Diana Boston went to Parliament Hill to share her story on the 2021 flood.
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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY
The Herald is running a special feature on celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
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City of Merritt supports development of conceptual design of theatre extension to the Merritt Civic Centre. At a regular council meeting on Tuesday, June 11, council passed a resolution to support the Nicola Valley Theatre Society (NVTS) development of a concept design for a theatre expansion to the civic centre. The expansion would attach to the auditorium east wall into the present parking lot, providing 250 to 300 seats. The upgrade would also consist of additional moveable walls to make the auditorium multiuse. “It can be the stage area when you need it, it could be a part of the auditorium when you need it,” said NVTS representative Kurt Christopherson. Since gaining council’s approval, the NVTS has approached an architect to design the conceptual drawing and is awaiting a response from the firm. “I’m hoping that within a couple of months, we’ll have the concept drawings that we can make public,” said Christopherson. At this point in time, the City is waiting for the NVTS to present an architectural concept drawing before further decisions or comments can be made. “Really all of this work that the Theatre Society will be doing, they
are the holders of those funds to do the design, and they will be implementing the design project,” said chief administrative officer Cynthia White. “The city’s role will just be to support them with our documents and to allow them access to facilities.” The NVTS has been trying to get a movie theatre in Merritt for over a decade. The Theatre Society previously tried to get a movie theatre built, even briefly owning the lot on 2102 Coutlee Ave. “The intent was to have a movie business that would support the operations of a performing arts venue, performing arts venues generally don’t make money, they’re dependent on grants that they apply for,” said Christopherson. “With the downturn in the movie industry, we just did not see enough revenue being produced that would keep the facility open.” During its previous venture, the Theatre Society received much of the money from public donations; the money has not been used and will either go into the development of a theatre expansion or returned to donors if rejected. “We still have (the money) and if the project doesn’t go ahead, then we will have to figure out how to return it,” said Christopherson. Whilst still awaiting a conceptual drawing; Christopherson estimates that the construction of the theatre expansion can be done for under $2.5 million.
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