I'm a little late coming into this conversation. I can assure you that Peter Pollen did not buy the Royal Theatre. It was purchased by Oak Bay, Victoria and the District of Saanich in 1972 under the leadership of the three mayors involved for $250,000, a damn good price considering it cost $400,000 60 years earlier. It was purchased as a stop gap while the multiple municipal groups sorted out how and where to build the big new Performing Arts Centre. They are still working on that idea.
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Royal Theatre
#21
Posted 17 February 2014 - 02:46 PM
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#22
Posted 17 February 2014 - 04:04 PM
...It was purchased as a stop gap while the multiple municipal groups sorted out how and where to build the big new Performing Arts Centre. They are still working on that idea.
And I suspect they will still be working on this idea 40 years from now. So long as we have our ridiculous collection of fiefdoms no real regional change can ever hope to come about.
#23
Posted 17 February 2014 - 06:26 PM
^Yeah, and if we amalgamated they would agree on site right away and get busy building. Not.
- Jill likes this
#24
Posted 18 February 2014 - 06:29 AM
I'm a little late coming into this conversation. I can assure you that Peter Pollen did not buy the Royal Theatre. It was purchased by Oak Bay, Victoria and the District of Saanich in 1972 under the leadership of the three mayors involved for $250,000, a damn good price considering it cost $400,000 60 years earlier. It was purchased as a stop gap while the multiple municipal groups sorted out how and where to build the big new Performing Arts Centre. They are still working on that idea.
That's what I understood. I suspect Pollen's purchase of the Malahat Building got mixed up with his role as mayor in the acquisition of the Royal.
#25
Posted 18 February 2014 - 08:57 AM
And I suspect they will still be working on this idea 40 years from now. So long as we have our ridiculous collection of fiefdoms no real regional change can ever hope to come about.
I am not positive but a performing arts centre is often brought up as a need but is it really? How is Victoria currently underserved I mean for a city of 400k seems we have quite a few quality venues.
#26
Posted 18 February 2014 - 09:25 AM
^Yeah, and if we amalgamated they would agree on site right away and get busy building. Not.
It would certainly move faster AND we could apply for federal grants that are only available to cities of over 250,000 population.
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Lake Side Buoy - LEGO Nut - History Nerd - James Bay resident
#27
Posted 18 February 2014 - 09:28 AM
I've said this before but a performing arts centre would be great but who could afford to use it? Arts funding has been cut to the bone, budgets are tighter than ever. It's like giving a teenager a "free" Lamborghini.
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#28
Posted 18 February 2014 - 10:05 AM
I am not positive but a performing arts centre is often brought up as a need but is it really?...
I am not saying necessarily that it IS needed, just that the idea has been bandied about for at least 40 years and as long as the current governance structure stays in place we'll never get the recognition and potential funding given to other areas of similar population.
#29
Posted 18 February 2014 - 10:08 AM
Seriously though, we should probably all be thankful that a 1970s-era centre was never built.
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#30
Posted 18 February 2014 - 10:43 AM
^ No kidding! Think of the upgrade cost we would be facing right now.
#31
Posted 18 February 2014 - 12:13 PM
I think the real issue is that the municipalities that provide the funding to the arts have a problem with determining what their goals are and if they are achieving them. The City of Victoria actually contributes a substantial amount of funding to the arts community, and exclusively funds the McPherson Playhouse. However with poorly established goals it is hard for them to continue to justify spending the amount that spend now, to say nothing of what it would cost to build a new performing arts centre.
#32
Posted 18 February 2014 - 12:38 PM
The Royal Theatre was constructed in 1913 by a local group of businessmen. They formed the Victoria Opera House Company and purchased the property at Blanshard and Broughton as well as the property immediately behind at Blanshard and Courtenay. The Company included many movers and shakers of the day and included Simon Leiser, Fred Pemberton, Sam Matson, Francis Rattenbury and many others. It had the support of then Provincial Premier Sir Richard Mcbride and, at one time, was to be called the McBride Theatre in his honour. Architects were W. D’Oyly Rochfort and E.W. Sankey
The project went over budget and the Victoria Opera House Company failed to pay many bills resulting in mortgage defaults and many debtors taking company shares in lieu of payment.
Opening was December 29, 1913 with a performance of Kismet starring Otis Skinner.
#33
Posted 18 February 2014 - 06:44 PM
It would certainly move faster AND we could apply for federal grants that are only available to cities of over 250,000 population.
Would it? If the usual suspects from Victoria council held the reins of power we would just study it to death and never build it.
Applying and getting are two different things unfortunately.
#34
Posted 23 February 2014 - 03:07 PM
From the Daily Colonist of February 1, 1913
#35
Posted 23 February 2014 - 03:26 PM
Hey thanks for that Ken!
Know it all.
Citified.ca is Victoria's most comprehensive research resource for new-build homes and commercial spaces.
#36
Posted 07 December 2018 - 03:20 PM
This could be hugely disruptive to the Downtown arts scene...
https://www.timescol...ling-1.23522019
"The cost of renting the Royal Theatre will double next year for local non-profits, a decision that has arts groups reeling and one, the Victoria Symphony, changing locations for some concerts.
Three longtime users — Victoria Symphony, Dance Victoria and Pacific Opera Victoria — say the Royal and McPherson Theatres Society, which runs the theatre, made the change with little consultation."
They're also changing rules around when and how these groups can book dates (hugely problematic for Pacific Opera for example) and blocking them entirely for the last half of December (no Ballet Victoria presenting "The Gift", no Symphony presenting Viennese New Year or Christmas programs.)
Sounds like the Symphony is moving about half of their performances out to UVic. This will adversely affect lots of other local groups as well. The three groups mentioned in the article account for about 91% of the weekend bookings.
#37
Posted 27 March 2019 - 06:29 AM
Various sources seem to be reporting that some sort of rent compromise has been reached between the Royal Theatre and the three longtime users mentioned in the TC article linked to above.
Seems though that the Symphony, Dance, and Opera still believe they have exclusive rights to all the weekends and best dates in the prime seasons.
I'm not sure I agree with that thinking though, as with the exception of dance, the broad spectrum of residents living in the CRD seem far more likely to attend a Broadway Musical or big comedy show than they are a symphony or opera.
Times change, peoples entertainment choices change, and the era of Symphony and Opera having a solid lock on the regions only large publicly owned facility just doesn't have the support it may once have had.
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#38
Posted 09 July 2019 - 06:28 AM
Proposal on the COTW agenda this week to again try and have other munis share in the cost of running the Macpherson and increase the participation of Saanich and Oak Bay in the funding of the Royal.
https://pub-victoria...ocumentId=42275
#39
Posted 09 July 2019 - 02:30 PM
The entire region uses the two theaters, so it kind of makes sense (and seems fair) that the entire region should pay for the two theaters.
Failing that - you have to show proof of address to get into the Macpherson, and if you live outside the City of Victoria you're forbidden from buying a ticket (to any show).
For the Royal, tickets are only available to residents of Victoria, Saanich, and Oak Bay ... everybody else is permanently out of luck.
Seems totally fair ... those muni's and folks who pay the bills are the muni's and folks who reap the reward of enjoying a show in one of the two regional theaters.
Residents of those muni's that refuse to pay the bills can satiate their artistic desires by going and seeing a spectacular production at the View Royal Casino.
#40
Posted 09 July 2019 - 02:33 PM
...if you live outside the City of Victoria you're forbidden from buying a ticket (to any show). For the Royal, tickets are only available to residents of Victoria, Saanich, and Oak Bay...
Perhaps there needs to be different pricing structures for residents of municipalities that financially support the R-MT's and residents of municipalities that don't support these venues.
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