Group worried about arts centre being owned by a church
Posted May 19, 2013 12:50 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – An upsetting week for theatre-goers after learning another venue has been lost in downtown Vancouver.
The Alliance for Arts & Culture is distressed to learn the Centre for the Performing Arts has been snapped up by a church.
Executive director Rob Gloor figures it could still be made available for performances, but not the ones people are necessarily used to seeing at that site.
He says groups would likely have to match the mission of the evangelical church, “rather than as a public facility open to any organization in the delivery of it’s mission.”
The theatre opened in 1995, but it has had a spotty history. It was originally called the Ford Centre for Performing Arts and owned by Garth Drabinksy, who went to jail for fraud. It was sold to Four Brothers Entertainment in 2001. The original intention to host long-running musicals in the venue have never panned out.
