Rotary Club seeks support for new performing arts theatre in Pincher Creek

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Chris Davis

Pincher Creek Rotary Club is spearheading a community initiative that, if successful, will result in a new state of the art performing arts centre in Pincher Creek adjacent/attached to St. Michael's school.

Rotarian Scott Korbett is an enthusiastic booster for the idea.

"It's been almost a year since Rotary began playing with the idea of a community theatre, to give to the community," he explained.  "To build a theatre housing 250 to 300 seats, a proper performing arts theatre."


Korbett said the project would likely cost between 5 and 10 million dollars, saying that figure was a guess at this stage of the idea.

Rotary had informal meetings about the concept with Town and MD of Pincher Creek councils last year. "When we started talking about a theatre, they were enthused, and asked a lot of questions... It was kind of left there."

Those discussions were prior to the last elections, after which the makeup of both councils changed significantly.

"The Rotary didn't drop the idea, but we weren't really sure which direction to go. About a month ago, we got wind that St. Michael's was awarded 10 million dollars towards a modernization of their school, which is needed. It entails knocking down the old gym (at the north end of the school) which is decrepit and ready to go."

"Dick Burnham and I sit on the MDSA (Municipal Development and Subdivision Authority board) together with the Mayor and a couple of Councillors. We had some discussions with them suggesting we should have some discussions with St. Mikes about the theatre."

"We brought it to our executive at Rotary, and we were thinking that we really should get on this."

"(Rotary member and past President) Cliff Elle said 'This could be a really good idea, lets talk to these people, and these people'. Then Bang! We were invited to meet with the Superintendent (Holy Catholic School Board Superintendent Chris Smeaton), Secretary-Treasurer Lisa Palmarin, and School Board Trustee Judy Lane. And of course the Principal of St. Michael's Don Kuchinson, and Assistant Principal Tina Delinte."

"When we had our meeting with them on Wednesday the discussion very quickly went towards 'How do we make this work as a community project?' To be a joint project, with a joint use agreement, how can we make the capital dollars work, how much fundraising can we get done?"

"If when we met with the Holy Spirit School Division, if one of those people around that table said 'You know what, I don't think this is a good idea,' it would have been dead. That's not what happened. Everybody at that table was taking every single stumbling block and crushing it."

Korbett did stress that there is a tight time-frame for the project to be realized, tied to the upcoming construction and renovations at St. Michael's.  "They want this to be done and operational by September of 2016 (which is when the St. Michael's project is due to be completed). They are asking us to sign a statement of committal so we can move forward with planning, fundraising, and building."

Korbett clarified that the theatre project would have to have completely separate funding from the upcoming project to upgrade and 'right-size' St. Michael's School. "St. Michael's has no more capital money for this project. It's totally separate. It now becomes up to the community to build a theatre, but if we can attach it to the school, it becomes a win-win for the entire community."

"The main purpose would be to increase cultural awareness, and ability of the community. You could perform in this, you could host good speakers. You could have a venue for sound that is unprecedented in the community. We could hire a big entertainer to do a small venue, because the acoustics will be proper. The seating will be proper theatre style seating so you can see from every seat in the house the foot work of dancers on the stage."

"This is a community project, and that is key."

"I want to play into something that happened this last summer. There was massive flooding that happened in High River. The entire Province and southern Alberta came together in a heartbeat to help. We rolled up our sleeves, didn't ask any questions, in fact got disappointed when we weren't allowed in soon enough to help clean up."

"At one of our Rotary District functions one of the things that came up, and I'll never forget this was 'How do we get the community to come together without a disaster?' Here we are, faced with an urgent need for a positive growth opportunity in our community that has got to happen fast. Why not?"

"We could do this. We could roll up our sleeves, figure out a way, raise the money, build this thing. I've seen this community do it."

"I've been here since 1995, we had a flood in '95, and I saw this community come together in a heartbeat."

"I saw them build a swimming pool, with no dollars borrowed, they raised 3 million dollars and built the swimming pool. This town had the initiative to do that. We built the museum, because the people felt we needed it. We had fundraisers to help build that. People bought logs, people bought tiles."

"Recently, they put a playground up at St. Mikes. They raised a quarter million dollars in 3 months. They were the best in the country for raising money, in Pincher Creek."

"The initial stuff that we looked at was between 5 and 10 million dollars for this thing. I don't want that number to be scaring people away, because we haven't really met with an architect to get a firm number on that." Korbett said they were aiming for a state of the art modern facility. "This has got to last. It's got to last beyond my lifetime. Why don't we just build it right the first time, and be done with it."

"This is not a Rotary-only project. Rotary is willing to lead it."

"The challenge is that if nobody leads a project, it just doesn't happen. If somebody leads it, and has the passion for it, you can gain the followers. Hopefully this is a cause that will bring people together."

"The four way test at Rotary is: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill, and better friendships? and Is it beneficial to all concerned? this project hits every one of them. This project nails it, absolutely nails it."

"We are going to need the community behind this, for sure there is no question. But the community gets to use this, the whole community gets to use this."

"The studies that I have looked at about the economic impact of a performing arts theatre in a community are all good. Economically, this is a good thing."

After discussing the boon the facility could be to drama departments and the like, I asked Korbett if it was part of the plan to give all area schools access to it.

"If any one of the schools say 'This isn't going to work, no way', that's going to be a challenge. That's where the joint use agreement comes into play."

"The Holy Spirit School Division has joint use agreements with other organizations, specially in the City of Lethbridge, that work, where they share their facility with the city, and they share benefits in return."

"That's what this has to be. This has to be open to anybody that wants to use it, including other schools, especially other schools. This is a community project, it's not going to be exclusive to any organization, at all."

I asked Korbett if there were any ideas for post-build fundraising, towards various imaginable purposes.

"There is a Rotary Club in Calgary that hired Johnny Reed to play at a 500 seat venue," he said, saying they charged $500 a ticket for that fundraising event. "They sold out. If we were able to do a fund raiser in a location that was appealing to a good entertainer, not everyone in Pincher Creek can afford a $500 ticket, but there are a lot of people in southern Alberta that would travel to see a big entertainer."

"Thinking larger than our little community as to who is going to use this, and what it can be used for, there is opportunity."

Korbett emphasized that the project would have to be bigger than Pincher Creek to be viable. "We are trying to appeal to southern Alberta, because we need input from everybody. The Crowsnest Pass has a Dance Society that my daughters have been a part of. We have to go to Lethbridge to use the theatre in Lethbridge to see them dance. Otherwise, you don't get to see how well they dance, because they're not on a proper stage. For the people in the Crowsnest Pass, it would be a lot easier for them to come to Pincher Creek, as well."

"We have an opportunity right now, real fast. If we can jump on it we can make it happen. Let's do this."