‘It may be time to leave,’ Theatre Collingwood, Music Festival leads slam council over arts centre vote

Without hopes for an arts centre in Collingwood after council kicked the project into an unknown future discussion, there could be an arts exodus from Collingwood. 

Daniel Vnukowski, founder of Collingwood Music Festival and a member of the town’s arts centre steering committee, said Monday’s council decision to slam the arts centre project into stasis has left him feeling “dreadful.” 

“I think … it may be time to leave Collingwood and move to a place where we’re really appreciated for the work we do, bringing world-class artists to our town,” said Vnukowski. “I see more and more arts organizations doing just that … there’s a growing sense of disillusionment.” 

Erica Angus, artistic director of Theatre Collingwood and also a member of the town’s arts centre steering committee, slammed the town in a prepared statement, noting a “disrepect” by the members of council who voted to defer the centre to an unknown future discussion. 

“After 41 years of bringing live theatre and music to Collingwood, Theatre Collingwood must now consider its options beyond the boundaries of this municipality,” said Angus in her emailed statement. 

In a phone interview later, Angus described council’s decision as a “gut punch,” adding she feels her years of volunteering for the steering committee and the town’s $300,000 spent on consultants “was for nothing.”

Vnukowski also said the $300,000 of taxpayer money “has been squandered with nothing to show for it.” 

“Why a council wouldn’t appreciate that kind of asset brought into the community leaves me speechless,” said Vnukowski. 

Collingwood council approved the arts centre feasibility process in 2019, and hired consultants in 2021 to start the first of three phases. Later striking a steering committee to work with the consultant and provide input into the future centre as the consultants presented their ideas to council.

After several iterations, council told the steering committee to keep the project in a $50-million budget and to leave parking out of it because the town would be working on a separate parking plan for the downtown.

The committee and Colliers came back to council on June 9 with a proposal for a 43,000 square-foot building with flexible space that could be used as a theatre for up to 600 people and/or it could be used by any size group for any gathering event, class, performance, or otherwise. The total cost would be $67.4 million with the expectation of grant funding to help pay for the new build and future operations. 

On Monday, June 23,  staff recommended council endorse the arts centre project scope and location as suggested by Colliers Business Leaders and the town’s steering committee to get a project design and business plan done so grants can be applied for.

This came with an estimated cost of up to $5 million, which could be funded from a reserve account set aside specifically for an arts centre, and by future town budgets. 

There were 78 letters sent to council in favour of proceeding to the next step for an arts centre, plus one that expressed concern at building something that was singularly purposed, instead suggesting a community centre with flexible space, which is in line with what the last proposal for the arts centre suggests. 

However, council argued over endorsing a location, and, after several failed votes, ultimately decided, though not unanimously, to defer any further action on the arts centre until the costs projected by the consultants could be “processed” through the town’s long-term strategic financial plan model, when it’s available. 

The long-term strategic financial plan doesn’t exist yet. The town is awarding the tender this year to a consultant to write the plan with town input. 

Councillors Chris Potts, Kathy Jeffery, Rob Ring and Deputy Mayor Fryer were the opposition votes against moving forward with the arts centre to get it ready for grant applications. 

Staff also recommended council order a downtown parking study for 2026 that will provide reasonable parking options and costs for more parking spaces to serve the downtown businesses, residences, and future builds. 

Council did order the parking study, and that passed unanimously.

“Collingwood is going to stay dull and grey,” said Vnukowski. “Let’s party on in the parking lots and continue talking about parking. Let’s have professional conferences and weddings on our beautiful parking lots.” 

Though he’s angry now, Vnukowski said he doesn’t want to leave Collingwood. 

“We’ve built our roots here. We came with a love of Collingwood and we’re left with a kind of disrespect, essentially, to the 50 arts organizations [in town] and we feel like we’ve lost momentum,” he said. “We deserve better.” 

Both Vnukowski and Angus also feel disrespected as volunteer members of the town’s steering committee, which was struck to provide council with information and recommendations for a future arts centre. 

Several times the steering committee was sent back to the drawing board to look at different locations, to pare down the budget, to reduce the size of the centre, and more. 

“We’ve worked really hard … it was the town that gave us the sites to look at,” said Angus, noting the committee looked at an arts centre in the Eddie Bush building, in the Pine Street parking lot and now at 48 Pine Street. 

“It feels like we’re trying to do the best we can to fulfil what council wants, and yet it’s very frustrating because there’s just always a reason,” she said. 

Now, she’s flabbergasted that it appears the arts centre is being shelved because of parking concerns. 

“Early on, we were told that parking was a different issue, a very important issue to the town, and it was going to be dealt with separately,” said Angus. 

As for criticism that Collingwood can’t fill a 600-seat theatre every weekend, Angus said it’s not meant to. 

Angus said the committee and consultants proposed flexible spaces for exactly this reason, so the building doesn’t have to house a 600-seat audience looking at a stage every weekend. 

“Yes, it can go to 600 seats, but it doesn’t have to,” said Angus, noting the space can be used with partitions for smaller groups, with different configurations for events like weddings, competitions, banquets, meetings, and more. 

There is room for classrooms, for youth programming like the current offerings from Theatre Collingwood and Collingwood Music Festival for youth. 

“You can use it for all sorts of reasons, which makes it so much more of a community hub and so much more practical,” said Angus. 

Vnukowski, who performs as a concert pianist internationally, confirmed some of the Collingwood Music Festival shows sell out and he could sell more tickets if there was a bigger venue. 

There’s also a need, he said, for a large, air-conditioned, venue designed with acoustics and technical specifications for a concert. 

The Collingwood Music Festival uses local churches for concerts, some of which don’t have air conditioning for the mid-summer events in sweltering heat that’s bad for audience members and performers. 

Both Angus and Vnukowski also push back against the argument that the town should prioritize an arts centre or a multi-use recreation facility, but not both. 

Vnukowski suggested they should be planned together and can work together toward the same goal of community spaces and places to help people thrive, discover, and develop as human beings and a community. 

When there was hope for a future arts centre, Angus and Vnukowski said it was bearable to make do with smaller venues, less than ideal acoustics, inaccessible spaces, inadequate backstages, and more. 

But without an arts centre at the end of the tunnel, both are reconsidering the work and money it takes to hop from venue to venue, never finding a space made for them. 

“Honestly, it just breaks my heart,” said Angus. “I don’t understand what more we could have done … I do feel really discouraged.” 

Both Angus and Vnukowski hope council will reconsider and vote to keep the arts centre project moving forward.