Concept design for Greater Vernon cultural centre (Submitted photo/Regional District of North Okanagan)

By Pete McIntyre

Seeking $8.5-million grant

Province asked to support Greater Vernon’s cultural centre

Feb 22, 2021 | 2:34 PM

Local politicians have made their pitch to get provincial support for an 8.5-million dollar grant for Greater Vernon’s proposed cultural centre.

Vernon city councillor and Greater Vernon Advisory Committee chair Akbal Mund was among the locals involved in a one-hour Zoom meeting with ministerial assistant Seamus Wolfe from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport on Feb. 19.

Mund said the purpose of the meeting was to let the province know more about the project and to seek the government’s support for a federal infrastructure grant.

“We answered all his questions. I think he was happy. You never know where these things are going to end up, but there is a process that everything has to go through,” Mund told Vernon Matters.

No assurances were given by the government staffer, and Mund says work on the $39.5 million facility won’t begin until they find out if the grant application is successful.

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“I think people need to know, yes, we want this project to move forward and elected officials are doing what they can to bring the grant to fruition so we can move forward,” Mund added.

Voters approved borrowing up to 25 million dollars for the centre in a referendum in November 2018.

Fundraising is also taking place by stakeholder groups, with a combined 14.5 million dollars needed on top of the borrowed funds.

The cultural centre will be built on the undeveloped Vernon Block, former site of the Coldstream Hotel, located at 3103 30th Street in Vernon.

It will house the Vernon Public Art Galley and Greater Vernon Museum and Archives, along with providing meeting, classroom and workshop spaces, presentation/performance space with 200 retractable seats and a community kitchen to cater local functions.

The regional district says the facility will see more than 60,000 visitors per year and bring $500,000 in direct economic benefit.

Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) Electoral Area C director Amanda Shatzko and RDNO Assistant Manager, Parks, Recreation and Culture, Tannis Nelson, were also part of the Zoom meeting with Wolfe.

Wolfe told Mund and the others he will be taking the request back to Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, Melanie Mark.