Cultural Planning in Oakville

On April 15, in front of a packed audience in Council Chambers, the Committee as a Whole, with 7 of 12 councillors present, endorsed the plan to maintain the former Queen Elizabeth high school in Bronte in its entirety of 140,000 sq. ft to develop a shared community centre within the facility.

Community representatives of Oakville’s arts and cultural groups and many non-affiliated members of the public cheered as councillors unanimously voted in favour of renovations and upgrades to the former school building to comply with modern efficiency and safety requirements but to otherwise keep internal renovations basic and future rentals low. The aim is to give numerous Oakville community groups ready access to multi-purpose rooms and some specialized spaces, such as a small theatre and rehearsal rooms, three-dimensional art and studio spaces, and others, to allow the groups to offer affordable programming to Oakvillians of all ages in one contained space. The centre will also provide physical recreational spaces such as a pool, gyms, in addition to a café and meeting place, offices, senior and youth lounge and storage for the Town. Once the plan is formally ratified by Council on April 20th, staff will be given directives to engage the architectural consultants, community groups, and public, to plan the spaces in more detail. Parking, maintenance of outdoor spaces, outdoor lighting and operational issues will also be studied and discussed.

It has been a long time coming since Community Arts Space (CUAS), formerly known as Music and Art Shared Space (M.A.S.S.), first started appealing to the Town of Oakville in 2002 to address the needs for a physical meeting and work space of some 40 local music, arts, and crafts organizations. The groups engage individually in a variety of classes and programmes with low membership and programme fees to make their discipline accessible to a wide array of Oakvillians, enriching the life of participating individuals and Oakville in general. The groups lack a joint physical space to rehearse, practice, teach, create and display, to coordinate their programming, events and memberships, and are thus limited in their access and growth. This is where the former QE Park School comes into play.

QEP, a 140, 000 sq ft 1970s school close to Third Line, was purchased by the Town of Oakville in 2004 and has since been used for aquatics and recreational programmes with about 2/3 of the building under lock and key due to disrepair and uncertain future purpose. Council received plans for the partial or full demolition of the building and new construction of an approx. 60,000 sq. ft sport centre with a 3000 sq ft allocation to arts and culture for approximately $33 million. Provided with detailed studies, surveys, research and appeals, the Town came to recognize the significant space needs and civic value of the local arts and cultural community, and engaged community groups and the general public in discussions about a changed design for a complete yet low-cost renovation. This “Option 3”, priced by architects at about $24 Million, retains the entire 140,000 sq ft. facility to allocate around 55,000 sq. ft to arts, cultural and other community groups alongside the traditional function of a community centre with pool and gyms.

This space will host youth and adult orchestras and choirs, painting workshops, individual studio spaces, wood carving and sculpture, ceramics, and fabric arts studio; potentially a glass blowing and metal work studio, jewellery studio, storage facilities for risers and specialized equipment, and of course many multi-purpose rooms. There will be public gallery space displaying local art, a social space and café for visitors, after-school programmes, and senior activities, with tremendous potential for vocational training and continuing education programmes.

The opportunity for Oakville:

Low cost - short time frame (doors open in 2011)
Apply Province’s stimulus money to the renovation cost
Gain a “2 for the price of 1” community centre plus storage for less than the other options
Incubator: encourage growth and interconnectivity (youth/seniors/multiple disciplines)
Potential Model for future school conversions
Creative re-purposing of Public Spaces
Wide appeal and community support due to diversity
Vocational opportunities/trade implications
Educational outreach HDSB/Sheridan College

CommUnity Arts Space and its many member groups celebrated last night but are aware that this is the time when the real work begins. “It has been a long labour and now we have to raise this child to maturity”, states Britta Martini-Miles, Executive Director of CUAS. “A refurbished QEP is providing Oakville with an opportunity to create unique partnerships and a space of learning, entertainment and community. It is not the answer to all of Oakville’s needs such as a larger performance space or a professional gallery space, but it is a start. Let’s get to work.”CommUnity Arts Space is grateful to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for financial support of their vision, to Mayor Burton to honour his election promise of making space for the arts, and to the staff and council for recognizing an opportunity, creating a possibility so that a Creative Oakville becomes a reality.