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Silverman?s could become arts centre

BY BILL BRADLEY [email protected] The arts community is moving closer to its dream of a visible arts and culture presence downtown.
BY BILL BRADLEY

The arts community is moving closer to its dream of a visible arts and culture presence downtown.

LOOKING AT PLANS: (Front) Mona Sims webmaster for SPHERE; Eric Landry, of NLFB; with (back row), Murray Bowers, NLFB; Patricia Beaton co-ordinator of Stepping Stone Loan Program (Geode); Will Morin representing SPHERE; and Doreen Ojala, Foodshed project manager.
Representatives from arts, cultural and community groups participated in an open house at the former Silverman?s building on Elm Street Thursday. The building is being considered for a new arts centre.

Murray Bowers, executive director of the Northern Lights Festival Boreal, said, ?The potential is unlimited as a centre of excellence for the arts, as an incubator for local artists, as a space for events.?

There is no intention to compete with the growing presence of private bars and clubs downtown.

?Our events will be from 7 to 10 pm so our patrons will spill out into the nearby restaurants and clubs.?

Bowers said the space will expand the programming of the NLFB, and be useful to other arts and community groups such as the Northeastern Ontario Filmmakers Association, Foodshed which promotes local agriculture and GEODE, a community economic development group.

Discussions have taken place with the owner of the building, an electrical engineer from Oakville.

The 32,000 square foot former department store has been underutilized since 2001. A retrofit occurred in 1996 to bring the building up to code. Better windows, a more efficient boiler system supplying hot water heating and new air conditioning were added.

The project has been spearheaded by GEODE marketing director Jim Cullen and Will Morin of SPHERE
(Sudbury People Helping to Empower the Regional Economy).

?I was approached by Jim Cullen last fall and he set up the initial meeting with the owner,? said Bowers.

?SPHERE has been invaluble in that they are revitalizing the arts community locally, pulling them together as a unified group. We need to approach this project united,? said Bowers.

Informal discussions about the space have already happened with federal government funding agencies.

For more information visit www.theartsphere.com call Morin at 671-0002 or Bowers at 674-5512.

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