Council hears plight of WMCA, Provincial Ex

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This article was published 19/01/2021 (2074 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium lost out on $220,686 in revenues due to being closed because of COVID-19, general manager Tom Crook told Brandon City Council on Monday.

Crook and auditorium board chair Coun. Shaun Cameron (University) were on hand during the council meeting to outline what challenges the venue faced in 2020 and what was done to keep things afloat, calling it a “tough year.”

After March 14 last year, all staff were laid off except for Crook and the venue’s box office manager. While things were idle at the building, Crook said they saved costs where they could.

Unused electronics were unplugged, leading to a 50 per cent reduction in the building’s electricity bill. Some contracts, like for snow clearing, were cancelled.

The auditorium finished putting together a reopening plan back in May, which Crook said has been updated every time the province’s health restrictions have been changed.

He said they had hoped to reopen in a limited capacity early in the new year, but the extension of public health orders has prevented that from happening.

Once Prairie Mountain Health has its restrictions downgraded to code orange, the WMCA will be able to reopen in a limited fashion with a 30 per cent audience capacity.

However, Crook said before the venue reopens he would like to talk with members of the public to gauge interest and see if Brandonites believe it would be safe to do.

“We’re ready to go when the time is right and it’s safe,” Crook said.

The plight of another Westman institution, the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba, was laid out to council by board chair Greg Crisanti. He thanked the city for granting the exhibition its tax break for running the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, despite the event being cancelled because of COVID-19.

As reported by the Sun last week, the Provincial Ex raised a total of $225,550 from all the fundraisers it held to make up for money lost after all of its marquee events were cancelled in 2020.

With this year’s Winter Fair and Ag Ex having already been cancelled, Crisanti said more fundraisers would be coming.

A project with the Kinsmen Club of Winnipeg is in the works where that organization will match up to $100,000 of fundraising by the Provincial Ex in a series of fundraisers under the banner “Love A Fair.”

That includes one where locals and businesses will be able to pay to have their names engraved on the sidewalk stones outside of the Dome Building, a tree-planting initiative and continued food and beverage sales.

“We aren’t going anywhere, but it will be a struggle without your support to get us to the next level,” Crisanti said.

Coun. Jeff Fawcett (Assiniboine) commended the organization for getting started on fundraising already since the events industry will likely be one of the last to reopen.

Jenn Moes and former city councillor and MLA Drew Caldwell gave a presentation advocating for the renovation of the Park Community Centre, following up on their similar comments during an online public engagement session last month.

The pair outlined the importance of the facility and why they believe it needs to be saved before addressing its financial situation.

According to Moes, the Park Community Centre received $10,000 from the Manitoba Bridge Grant and $6,000 from its own fundraisers.

If it weren’t for COVID-19, Moes said they would have raised even more.

The city’s central council of community centres has approximately $75,000 from its 2018 budget leftover as well as $25,000 from its 2019 budget that they believe should be made available to the Park Community Centre for repairs.

After that presentation, city manager of recreation Heather Reimer followed up with her own presentation about the results of last month’s public consultation about the facility.

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