After 10 years of pushing for a new concert hall in downtown Ottawa, advocates are back at square one: searching for a suitable downtown location for the hall.
The Ottawa Friends of the Concert Hall met with members of the city’s arts advisory committee recently to solicit support to city council to commit to the building of a new concert hall.
“We are looking for a new location, and that is the major challenge that we face. We made that known to the city,” says Alan Bowker, a Friends board member.
Bowker says specific criteria for the hall, such as a central downtown location that is easily accessible through public transit and would make the hall a focal point.
“Anywhere from Gloucester to Wellington to city hall to Bronson would be the city core. That would be our preference,” he says.
The hall is meant to strike a balance between the National Arts Centre’s Southam Hall, which seats 2,000 people, and the smaller venues around the city by providing an affordable medium-sized venue, says Bowker.
“We envisage a mid-size hall that is purpose-built for that size, suitable for unamplified performances of all kinds. This is something that is notably absent in Ottawa. We don’t have that crucial mid-size performance, which is what you need for choral groups, chamber groups, jazz and spoken word performances,” he says.
In 2008, the concert hall project was gaining ground with a developer, space in a proposed building at 150 Elgin St. and $12 million in municipal and provincial government funds.
According to Maggie McCoy, another Friends director, the project had garnered a lot of support from the Ottawa arts community by 2008, and it seemed like the hall would be built.
However, the project fell through in February 2008 when Morguard Developments failed to secure a primary tenant for the space and decided not to build at all.
Then, last August, city council decided to devote the $12 million earmarked for the concert hall towards the renovation of the Arts Court on Daly Avenue.
With a lack of funds and 150 Elgin St. no longer an option, Friends of the Concert Hall want the city to commit to finding a new site.
“Without the active co-operation and engagement of the city, the concert hall project is too difficult for a volunteer committee,” says Bowker.
David Donaldson, the manger for realty initiatives and development for the city, said at the committee meeting the city is in good financial shape and the funding of a concert hall is potentially there, but the city’s commitment to the project depends on whether there is an opportunity to build.
“If there is the momentum to build a concert hall, the council will put aside money for this. We are on the lookout for both cultural and for real estate opportunities to work with the Friends of the Concert Hall and make that project a reality at some point. Hopefully, sooner than later,” he said.
However, committee members think waiting for an opportunity is not doing enough.
“The point is, as long as we continue to say, ‘down the road,’ ‘as opportunities arise,’ etc., it’s not going to happen,” says Catherine O’Grady, executive director of the Ottawa Jazz Festival and an advisory committee member.
“It’s not going to happen if we just keep saying, ‘when it’s convenient it’s going to happen, when we find land it’s going to happen,’ ” she said.
McCoy said if the concert hall secures a new site and the city replaces the $12 million, the next step would be to secure funding from the federal government and the corporate and private sector, and to launch a major fundraising and awareness campaign.
For now, the vision of a 925 seat downtown hall with perfect acoustics and world-class facilities suitable for recording remains just a vision.