The Ottawa Chamber Music Society’s four-year dream to build a concert hall on Elgin Street has ended on a low note.
The society’s chair, Colin Cooke, said last week project supporters were unable to secure a private sponsor for the proposed 925-seat concert hall before the city’s deadline and wouldn’t be requesting another extension.
“When I asked for 90 days in November, I said I wouldn’t come back and ask for another extension unless there was something signed or pretty darn close. I don’t and therefore I’m not,” Cooke said.
The society received funding commitments for the downtown concert hall from the city in 2004 and from the province in 2006 totalling $12 million.
Last November, the federal government came on board with $8 million, conditional on the society finding other funding.
When that happened, council gave Cooke until the end of February to find a corporate sponsor to contribute the remaining $6 million.
While the group ran into many challenges, Cooke said they simply did not have enough time to secure a corporate sponsor with the three levels of government behind the project.
“Typically corporations need six months to two years to sign on and we only had 90 days since we secured all three levels of funding. It ties our hands.”
Cooke said the failure was a setback and hoped another group in the city would pick up the concept and run with it.
A medium-sized concert hall in downtown Ottawa has been identified as a need of the arts community.
Ottawa’s arts groups and city councillors were disappointed by the news, describing it as a blow to the community.
“This was an opportunity to be front and center year around in a very competitive environment. We had an opportunity to be a big player on the big stage and that’s gone,” said Catherine O’Grady, executive producer of the Ottawa Jazz Festival.
“We were talking about a 900-seat theatre that was going to be booked a minimum four days a week. It’s a huge loss for the artists and the industry.”
Peter Honeywell of the Council for the Arts in Ottawa said the loss of the hall has implications for all of the city’s arts groups who would have had access to the building.
Capital Ward Coun. Clive Doucet called the development a tragedy.
“We had an opportunity and they missed it,” Doucet said. “It’s $40 million of partnership funding just disappeared.”
Diane Holmes, councillor for Somerset Ward, said fundraising efforts take years and she wasn't surprised a title sponsor hadn't been found.
She said the cultural branch of the city is expected to come out with a report in the next month that will likely recommend the city rescue the project.
“What I want to see is that we keep our money, the provincial money and the federal money and we see if there are any other organizations in town that might be interested in running the concert hall rather than the chamber music group,” Holmes said.
O’Grady said Ottawa arts groups are in the “early stages” of talking about what can be done to save the concert hall.
“At this point, it is just talk, there’s nothing organized,” O’Grady said.
“The need doesn’t expire because the dates have. There’s got to be money out there. We have to find a way to make this work.”