Having read the article in the Campbell River Mirror “Mayor disagrees with the Tidemark grant,” (Mirror, May 23) I felt the information in the article may leave the community at large reading it a bit confused about the situation.
The Tidemark Theatre is not an entity of its own. It is a city building in which a non-profit society provides arts and culture to the community. Our progressive-thinking city council recognizes your theatre as contributing to the community at large and therefore provides an operating grant to insure the city building is maintained. This is not in a dissimilar manner in the way it supports community sports and recreation.
The Tidemark Theatre’s summer capital upgrades will increase the city’s asset tremendously plus result in a far more attractive venue for our patrons. For every dollar contributed by the city, there have been approximately three times that much funding come from the community and various other grants. So the city’s grant to the Tidemark is creating incredible security for the taxpayers while at the same time producing a much improved setting for our clients.
This last debate over funding to the Tidemark Theatre is a bit disconcerting as it is not direct dollars.
The operation funding from the city has not increased since 2010. These present monies are to be set aside in case there is a cost over-run on a performance.
In addition, it is important to note that the programing season for most big touring acts in now 2 years in advance so the staggering of the two-year funding is significant. This allows the Theatre to become modernized in relation to how it does business.
If this past year’s community support for our events is any sign of what the future may bring I suggest it is a pretty safe overdraft.
Our community is composed of many deserving groups and our Campbell River community can be very proud of the manner in which they support these multifaceted endeavours.
The Tidemark Theatre Society wishes to express their sincere appreciation to council and each and every donor in our great community.
We are honoured to be a participant in putting a new face on a city icon.
Marlene Wray,
President, Tidemark Theatre Society