With funding from all three levels of government now in place for for the $30-million Place des Arts project, it looks like shovels will be in the ground in the summer of 2018.
The downtown Francophone shared arts facility, which would open in the spring of 2020, will be built on what's now the municipal parking lot at the corner of Elgin and Larch streets.
Earlier this month, Heritage Canada Minister Mélanie Joly was in town to announce $12.5 million in federal funding for the project.
The province also announced $8.25 million last June, and in December 2016, Greater Sudbury city council promised to chip in $5 million.
Place des Arts president Stephane Gauthier said the group has also brought in private donations of $365,000, but will also be launching a $2.5-million capital campaign this fall to bring in the last of the funding.
With the government grants now secured, Gauthier said the architects who will design it have recently been hired.
While obviously thrilled the federal government has now kicked in its share of the funding, Gauthier, who's also executive director of Carrefour francophone, said he had mixed feelings at the funding announcement.
That's because Paulette Gagnon, the director of development for Place des Arts, passed away suddenly a few days before the press conference.
Working quietly and efficiently behind the scenes, she's the reason the project will soon become a reality, Gauthier said.
“It was her signature piece,” he said.
“She has been working for like 40 years plus in the arts and culture realm. She's been on the national level for very long, and coming back to Sudbury, she was seduced by the project and the idea of making this happen.”
Place des Arts will house Carrefour francophone de Sudbury, Centre franco-ontarien de folklore, Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario, La Nuit sur l'étang, Éditions Prise de parole, Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario, Salon du livre du Grand Sudbury and Laurentian University's Francophone theatre arts program.
The venue will not only be used by the aforementioned Francophone organizations, but will be available to other performers and organizations in the city, regardless of their language or culture.
The 60,000-square-foot building will include a bar and restaurant area with a capacity of 100 people ideal for performances by local artists, a smaller “black box” theatre with 150 seats and a larger theatre with 300 seats.
There will also be shops for creating theatre costumes and props, artists' studios, administrative space and perhaps even a Francophone daycare.
“This is the first capital project that all of our team has been working on, except Paulette,” Gauthier said.
“Paulette would say 'We're on holidays, guys. The work will start when we have the architects on board.' Apparently now the work will start.”
