Smithers Council will not be reconsidering the Smithers Art Gallery’s lease on their Creation Station space.
The decision was made tonight (Tuesday) after the town gave the gallery notice that their lease would end next August.
This is so the town can convert the space into offices to expand their staff.
One of the requests by the gallery at last Tuesday’s (Nov. 5th) Commitee of the Whole meeting was for council to reconsider the lease.
“We’ve passed the time period which that route would be available to us so the only option would be a new directive from council,” said Director of Corporate Services Dave Schroeter.
One point touched on by Councilor Frank Wray was that the Creation Station lease was meant to be temporary.
“The solution was supposed to be the new gallery library building but unfortunately that didn’t come to pass,” he said.
The gallery also asked council to add visual arts education back to their strategic priorities list and recommit to a couple of the town’s policies.
“I’m sure in our upcoming discussions it will be brought to the table. I’m not sure it’s worth it to put it on the strategic priorities plan since I know we are looking at pairing it down,” said Councilor Sam Raven.
There were also talks about potentially incorporating a space for the Creation Station into their Central Park revitalization plans.
“I’m just thinking with the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, there is what was called the Black Box Theatre but that was right beside the Central Park Building, that could be a creation station down the road,” said Raven.
Gallery Manager Nicole Chernish told My Bulkley Lakes Now they were looking at alternatives should council not reconsider their lease.
Something going on in the Bulkley Valley Lakes District you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
