“It’s been a rollercoaster,” she laughs. “There’s been lots of ups and downs. But it’s paid off.”
After more than two decades, the centre – a 86,000-sq.-ft facility boasting everything from a 500-seat theatre to multiple art galleries and studios – finally opened for business last week, launching a weekend of celebrations on Thursday, June 18.
But the initial idea for the multidisciplinary arts centre came much earlier in 1988, Tremblay recounts, a year after the Gloucester Arts Board initially came together.
Along with the Gloucester Arts Council, the two groups began a “cultural facility needs assessment,” she explains, launching the first of three eventual studies on the issue. Examining the community’s needs, consultants came back with the suggestion that two small arts facilities – around $2.5 to $3 million each, including one in Gloucester – should be built, Tremblay continues.
But “(they) got massacred” for that conclusion, she says, a reaction born mainly from previous difficulties getting just one such facility built.
“There was an enormous push-back,” Tremblay adds. “They went right back to the drawing board.”
Another study in the wake of an economic downturn “fell to the wayside,” she explains. Next, the Gloucester Arts Corporation was formed, Tremblay recounts, but amalgamation talks soon put a freeze on capital spending and the corporation was eventually disbanded.
Starting anew in 2001, the project came into the newly-amalgamated city as “one of the top priorities … in terms of capital infrastructure,” she continues. Then, with the founding of Art Equality East and strong community support – what she calls a major turning point for the project – “it really took off,” Tremblay describes.
From the city perspective, former Orléans councillor Herb Kreling also brought new sustainability to the cause when he began championing the project as a public-private partnership, she explains.
When the P3 was approved by the city in 2004, “we thought, ‘Okay, this is it,’” Tremblay adds. “There were a lot of happy people.”
The city has been “somewhat visionary” in terms of their partnership in the arts centre project, continues Chantal Rodier, director of the ARTicipate campaign – which drives Shenkman’s endowment fund – especially in terms of offering classes through partner organizations.
“They could have put (these organizations) out of business by offering the same classes for less,” Tremblay recounts. “It’s very rare … it’s a prototype for the future.”
As for that future, the next step is to bolster ARTicipate’s endowment fund, Rodier explains, which will funnel back into programming and resources for years to come. The fund is already at 85 per cent of its total $5-million goal with $4.25 million raised, she notes.
“We want people to be part of this,” Rodier says. “(The fundraising effort) is going strong. Before this was a bit of a dream, but now it’s really there.”
Another piece of the puzzle is encouraging local arts groups to fundraise for Shenkman, adds AOE spokesperson Christiane Doherty, indicating those organizations will reap the rewards through the centre’s programming.
“It’s again, a community effort,” she explains. “It puts it on a whole different level.”
March, 1987 -- Gloucester Arts Board established. 1988-1989 -- Gloucester Arts Board undertakes Facilities Needs Assessment. 1991-1993 -- Study recommends building a small-scale arts centre. 1996 -- Study recommends constructing a “stand-alone” facility on vacant land at the former Gloucester City Hall site on Telesat Court. 1997 -- Study says no possibility of raising $8 million for a Gloucester Arts Centre without support of entire population of the Regional Municipality. Project suspended indefinitely. 2001 -- After amalgamation, the City of Ottawa takes on a leadership role in the development of an east-end arts facility. 2002 -- 58 community organizations sign the Equality East Citizens’ Coalition Declaration of Support for the establishment of a permanent cultural facility in the east 2004 -- Council supports recommendation that the Orléans Arts Centre should become a public-private partnership. Dec. 2005 -- Request for Proposals issued. March, 2006 -- Provincial funding of $2.5 million announced and invested in endowment fund. May, 2006 -- Arts Ottawa East (formerly Gloucester Arts Board) asked to take lead on all community fundraising initiatives. Sept. 2006 -- City signs $220 million arts centre deal with Orléans Town Centre Partnership, a consortium led by Forum Leasehold Partners Inc. April 2007 -- P3 partnership agreements concluded June 2007 -- Sod turning. Sept. 2007 -- Arts Ottawa East’s ARTicipate campaign gets first major donation of $1 million on behalf of the Shenkman Family Foundation. Arts centre now named the Shenkman Arts Centre. Aug. 2008 -- City announces 29-year-old sculptor Maskull Lasserre winner of exterior display. Nov. 2008 -- Arts Ottawa East achieves 82 per cent of the $5 million goal for endowment fund. Community campaign launched. June 18, 2009 -- Official grand opening
