Groups stress the need for arts centre

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This article was published 01/05/2012 (5289 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Several arts groups who had offered support for the Strand Theatre restoration project restated the need for a downtown arts centre on Monday.

Mecca Productions artistic director Lisa Vasconcelos said smaller venues are a good fit for the group’s smaller productions.

“Right now, we use a couple of churches in the community for some of the smaller things we do, so we’d definitely be interested in renting a smaller venue like the Strand that will have additional lighting or non-carpeted flooring,” said Vasconcelos, leader of one of the largest theatre groups in Brandon. “We’d certainly be interested in supporting that project by renting performance space, if it was available and if it were a reasonably priced fee.”

Rehearsal spaces are also in demand and a completed Strand renovation could help meet that need, said George Buri, the artistic director for 7 Ages Productions.

“I’m always looking for different rehearsal spaces, but it would have to suit theatre and have proper lighting, backstage areas, dressing rooms and those sorts of things,” Buri said. “I would still use the auditorium for bigger musical productions, but for smaller shows, I would certainly use the Strand if there was an appropriate theatre in there.”

Buri said it was hard to commit to using theatre space when “I have no clue what they would charge us for a rental for one night’s performance or whatever else is concerned.

“That’s why it’s hard to commit, when you don’t know for sure what the details are.”

Shaun Cameron, a member of the Outcast Theatre Company, said while his group is “small-scale,” it would use the Strand to hold productions “if the price was right and the availability is there.”

» kborkowsky@brandonsun.com