16 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Proposed $40M West Shore arts centre looks for partnerships and land

 

https://cheknews.ca/...d-land-1322258/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 May 2026 - 01:08 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The Juan de Fuca Performing Arts Centre Society is pitching a $40 million, 35,000 square feet arts hub housing a 350 seat theatre, a danceroom, outdoor amphitheater, class space, a dedicated art and pottery studio, podcast recording space, and a cafe.

 

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When CHEK News asked about how the charity would finance the $40 million project, Painter was vague.

“We’re really excited to have a broad coalition supporting the project that we’re putting forward,” answered Painter.

“We have the plan to put it together, and so now we’re reaching out and asking the community at large to come together to say ‘hey let’s actually build some partnerships here,’ whether it is naming rights, whether it’s purchasing, whether it’s other creative partnerships, everything is on the table.”

 

https://cheknews.ca/...d-land-1322258/

[Victoria Watcher]

"We've got a plan!"

 

But no money.

[Blair M.]

A 350 seat theatre is inappropriately small for the Westshore. 

 

Considering the current population of the Westshore (and adding the population of the CRD as a whole), any new theatre should be, at minimum, 800 seats, with 1000 seats being more forward thinking. 

 

This compulsion to make attempts to appeal to artists of all disciplines is typical, but "including" a suite of non revenue producing add-ons is a mistake. A pottery studio may sound great to local potters, but it adds non-revenue producing overhead to an already somewhat difficult proposition (to build a theatre that doesn't survive solely on taxpayers dollars in the form of endless grants).

 

The Westshore represents approximately 25% of the CRD's total population. It's also far and away the fastest growing area of the CRD. 

It's expected to remain the fastest growing area for decades. 

 

The CRD/Westshore needs to build an appropriate theatre for the region as a whole, not a 350 seat money-pit that could never generate enough revenue to become self-supporting.

Even an 800 or 1000 seat theatre would struggle to be self-supporting, but with the higher seat count, and in a properly designed theatre - the likelihood of attracting shows that would generate maximum revenue would be extremely high. 

A 350 seat road-house theatre, even one with occasional sold-out shows, would barely be able to pay the electrical bills and afford a full time custodian (let alone the mandatory technical, box office, and administrative staff).

 

The process of theatre development, construction, and operation needs to be one undertaken by the Westshore municipalities in conjunction with the CRD.

It's most definitely not a project for small arts groups with big dreams and no funding.

Having absolutely no venue operating experience and 350 seats pretty much ensures a failure from the get-go. 

Edited by Blair M., 03 May 2026 - 05:40 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

I agree. But I know you are more the expert.

350 seems like a really odd goal. That size might just be attached to a school.

Isn’t there a way to build one adjacent to The Q Centre in order to share some resources (like parking or even washrooms and concessions, staff)?

[Victoria Watcher]

What is here, lawn bowling?

 

 

A good start would be a fund.  Put something in the west shore tax bills asking for donations, then get other residents and businesses involved.

 

Maybe commit to a matching fund.

 

Say for every $1,000 of private money collected, the municipalities input $3,000 into the fund each year.  Split proportionately by resident population percentages.  When some set amount is collected, the build begins.

 

Hire a full-time cracker of a fundraising/promotion person.

 

Let's go!

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 03 May 2026 - 06:02 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

120,000 OR SO POPULATION INCLUDING sOOKE.

 

40M/120,000=$335 per person.

[Blair M.]

Your take on 350 seats being roughly commensurate with a school theatre is an accurate one. 

350 seats is a very tough (indeed, almost impossible) number of seats to generate the requisite operating revenue to sustain the venues operation over time. 

 

In another of your posts of a few days ago, you linked to the recent announcement of the new CRD arts funding model for the major theatres in the CRD (notably the Royal, McPherson, and Charlie White).

It was posited in that same announcement that this "new" funding process would also begin to investigate the construction of a new theatre on the Westshore. 

 

My guess would be that this small Juan de Fuca group and their 350 seat theatre proposal appear to be timing their announcement in an effort to get in early on that pending CRD process. Unfortunately - theatre design, construction, and operation is a process that tends to exclude small, unfunded arts groups - groups that tend to envision dipping heavily into tax dollars almost from the get-go. 

 

Worthy of note might be that in 2026 and moving forward - a new 800-1000 seat theatre, one appropriately designed and constructed for the task at hand, would cost anywhere from $70-$140^ million dollars to construct, and then cost in the many hundreds of thousands per year in salaries to operate. 

 

1000 seat theatres are not now, and never have been an undertaking for small arts groups - rather it's a process for regional governments with support from the Province and Ottawa (as well as mandatory support from the actual taxpayers who will be called upon to fund the design, construction, and operation of this new venue).

[max.bravo]

For comparison, Mary winspear theatre in sidney is 310 seats. It feels very small. McPherson is 772 seats.

I agree with Blair, It would be crazy for the westshore to build something Sidney-sized.

[Mike K.]

Those are good points, Blair. I never considered the impracticality of 350 seats.

Stew Young would make it happen. Maybe he’ll get voted back in this year and a formal arts centre will land on his lap.

I spoke with this group quite a few years ago and at the time they were considering the JDF park and ride as the site of the project.

[Blair M.]

Profitable performing arts facilities most definitely require visionary politicians at the local and regional level. Without them, nothing gets built. 
 

It’s very important to refrain from “crushing dreams” while remaining financially and politically realistic. The small arts groups are a critical part of the overall mix - they’re just not the ones suited to build and operate a working professional performing arts facility. 
 

In terms of constructing a profitable, professional, and future-proof 1100 seat (my candidate for an ideal Westshore size) theatre - Stu is very likely the only Westshore politician of note (currently) who could accomplish the task - as he’s the only Westshore politician you could also tag with being at all “visionary”. 

Edited by Blair M., 03 May 2026 - 08:40 AM.

[Mike K.]

He built the West Shore RCMP detachment with no drama, on time, on budget, and with excess capacity that he leased to other institutions. People very quickly forget how much hard work goes into pulling off smooth projects. And they get no fanfare, and eventually the public forgets the work you did entirely, and starts to dislike you because you can’t be 100% of everything they want, 30 years later.

[Blair M.]

“Visionary” in this instance doesn’t (and can’t) mean “head in the clouds”. 
 

In addition the myriad of theatre specific technical aspects of the design, you would also need to (for example) focus on a large, easily accessible, and very efficient food and beverage set-up. 
Why?

 

Because pre-show and intermission alcohol sales need to pay for all of your front of house wages incurred in the course of presenting the show, wage's for ushers, box office and custodial staff. 
 

Stu would fundamentally understand such design requirements immediately upon being briefed on them, whereas many politicians might be far more concerned with where they get to sit on opening night. 

Edited by Blair M., 03 May 2026 - 09:17 AM.

[Mike K.]

The current plan is about $115k per seat.

[Blair M.]

The current plan is about $115k per seat.

Because they're including a "dance room", outdoor amphitheatre, classrooms, art studio, pottery studio, podcast recording space, and a cafe in their proposed development - standard theatre cost estimating on a per-theatre-seat basis won't be accurate. 

In order to get a construction cost that is close to accurate, we first need to remove any and all "extras" that aren't directly related to a theatre presenting live shows.

 

Generally speaking, in the real world - you're looking at around $55,000.00 to $80,000.00 per seat for construction of a contemporary proscenium arch style theatre in Canada.

 

The costs noted above are for the construction of the building only, and don't include the cost of land or the goods and chattels required to operate a functional, contemporary theatre.

Those goods and chattels (lights, sound, rigging, FOH operations, Box Office computer systems, etc), along with the land cost will add another $25-$50 million dollars to your per-seat estimate above (at the least).

 

Because the costs are so high, and because you are essentially committing to those costs as you exit the planning stage, you can't overstate the absolute clarity required (in advance) as it relates to what kind of theatre you're planning on building, how (precisely) you're going to fund its ongoing operations, how will you actually manage the theatre (which also includes who exactly will manage your theatre) - and then, perhaps most importantly, what (exactly) you're planning on doing with that theatre once you've built it.

Edited by Blair M., 04 May 2026 - 09:27 AM.

[max.bravo]

This is definitely not Blair’s first rodeo…
Thanks for the wealth of info!

[lanforod]

I don't think there is enough room to hold a rodeo. It's not his first musical .