Councillor eyes empty St. John’s school as arts space
A St. John’s councillor wants the city to buy Macpherson Elementary and turn it into an arts space.
Coun. Sheilagh O’Leary of Ward 4 says in light of the recent sale of I.J. Sampson Junior High, the city should consider buying Macpherson for some muchneeded commun- ity space.
“I’ve asked the city to look at it,” she said Friday.
“This is an age-old issue. We have a long, long history of the arts community lobbying the city to try to find appropriate space that could be used for arts production.”
O’Leary said she wants to put the idea of the purchase on the table for council to discuss.
“Any kind of arts space concept would have to look at partnerships: federal, provincial partnerships” said O’Leary.
“This might be the opportunity that the community needs — not only to serve the arts community, but to be an economic driver and a benefit to the community at large”
O’Leary said council needs to be at the table when it comes to what will happen to empty buildings in the city.
“We have many itemized needs in the community,” she said. “I’m speaking specifically to an arts production space in this particular concept, because I know there is an extreme need in the community. … We have many models out there — we know there are partnership opportunities, so why wouldn’t we investigate this at this stage of the game? To me, it would be an opportunity lost.”
Asked if the city should look to buy buildings after a tough budget that cut services and raised taxes, O’Leary said “there are two different philosophies” on what to do during times of economic distress.
“You can shut everything down and make cuts all across the board, or you can look at opportunities that are going to be economically viable and beneficial to the entire community,” she said.