BONNYVILLE – The Clayton Bellamy Foundation for the Arts will receive $100,000 from the Town of Bonnyville following council’s approval of a one-time funding request for a fine arts theatre to be built in Bonnyville Centralized High School.
The decision was made during a regular council meeting on June 28. The total cost for the theatre’s construction is estimated to be $1,018,081.
The financial commitment from the Town is contingent on the arts foundation obtaining funding from the province's Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP). The CFEP grant is administered on a fund-matching model.
One of the criteria for this program is that any substantial cash donation for the project must be confirmed with a letter from the donor.
The submission deadline for the CFEP application was June 15. However, the foundation listed the Town's donation as "pending" in its application and now requires a letter confirming this contribution.
The foundation will not know if it is successful in its grant application for the project until December of this year.
If the fine arts project does receive a green light from the governing grant advisory board, the Town will factor the one-time funding request into their 2023 capital budget.
Renee Stoyles, the general manager of corporate services for the Town, told council that the 2023 capital budget, which currently has a deficit of $764,000, would increase to a deficit of about $864,000.
“We would have to look again in the fall when we do our priorities to reallocate (funds) and possibly pull from reserves if needed,” Stoyles told council.
Other municipal contributions
On May 24, the City of Cold Lake’s council approved a funding commitment in the amount of $85,000 subject to construction starting by December 31, 2023.
RELATED STORY: Cold Lake council commits $85,000 to proposed arts theatre
The MD of Bonnyville opted out of allocating capital project funds towards the fine arts theatre during a regular meeting on April 27, but approved a letter of support, in principle, for a performing arts theatre project to serve the area.
The MD’s council directed administration to have the foundation apply for funding through the municipality’s 2023 Community Action Grant for the proposed project.
Utilizing the proposed facility
While the proposed theatre will be situated within the Town of Bonnyville’s limits, the foundation hopes that space will attract artists and performers regionally in order to keep the facility sustainable for years to come.
Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland, previously stated that while his council recognized it is a large sum of money to commit to a facility that is being built in another municipality, they felt it will be a great benefit to the residents of Cold Lake and the wider region.
Responding to an inquiry from Lakeland This Week, Lakeland Catholic School Division reported that as of May 2, 41 per cent of Lakeland Catholic students enrolled in Bonnyville schools live within the town itself, while 59 per cent of its students live within the MD limits.
The percentage of Northern Lights Public Schools’ students that attend schools in the Town of Bonnyville is 45 per cent from the MD of Bonnyville and 55 per cent from the town itself.
Within the boundaries of the MD, NLPS provides education up to Grades 7/8 at Iron River School and Ardmore School.
“With the exception of high school students that attend school in Glendon, most MD students would attend high school in Cold Lake or Bonnyville (grades 9-12),” reads a statement provided to Lakeland This Week by NLPS.
