Here is the link to the pdf of the draft document of the
City of Moncton Cultural Plan (2016-26):
https://www.moncton.ca/Assets/Reside...Plan+Draft.pdf
As usual, this draft document is chockerblocks full of platitudes, generalizations and fuzzy feel good "goals and declarations", but stuck deep in the document I found the following quotes quite intriguing:
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Guidance can be drawn from a national study of trends in cultural infrastructure in Canada undertaken by the Centre of Expertise on Culture and Communications at Simon Fraser University. The study highlighted that cultural policies and programs at federal and provincial levels are rarely sustained over a long enough period for adequate planning at the municipal, regional, or community levels.
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The same study identified a growing trend across Canada away from single-purpose cultural facilities (e.g., a performing arts centre, a museum or art gallery) toward multi-purpose cultural infrastructure. One of the most admired and a successful multi-purpose cultural facility in the country is the Vancouver Roundhouse. The Roundhouse has a twofold mandate: first, to be a centre for community cultural development and secondly, a community source for cultural/recreational activities for all ages. Features of facility include a performance centre, an exhibition hall, woodworking, pottery and dance studios, a full size gymnasium, a café area, and various multi-purpose spaces. The facility serves as a community connector for the needs of Vancouver’s widely divergent and diverse communities. Other examples include the development restructuring of multi-use hubs that integrate arts, culture, heritage, and library facilities to share resources and operation costs; artist live/work space or studio complexes that focus on live/work studios, artists living spaces, and a variety space uses including rehearsal spaces, art gallery space, retail and cafes; and multi-sector convergence centres that are designed to maximize socialization and networking and thus become major connecting hubs and economic engines in communities.
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Important to the conversation is the ongoing study on the establishment of a contemporary art museum in Moncton. The conversations steam from the need for professional exhibition space at a high level of standard. Preliminary discussions on the matter suggest that the contemporary art museum would have space allocated for multi-purpose functions that the community and artists can use for networking and business development.
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When I read this, it really screamed to me that this might be what they are planning to do with
Moncton High School. It's obvious. MHS has a first rate auditorium which could be used as a performance space. There is also a relatively new gymnasium (which the Vancouver Roundhouse has), and oodles of other space that could be occupied by various studios, galleries, exhibition spaces, craft shops and small cafes. A Museum of Contemporary Art could also easily be included in any MHS redevelopment.
Yup, my spidey senses are tingling right now, and I have a very strong suspicion that this is the way forward for MHS, and that the announcement that is expected later in the spring on the future of the old MHS might confirm this.
If so, this is potentially a
very exciting development for the city.....
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