Anne of Green Gables

Ottawa increases funding levels for Confederation Centre

Ottawa is dramatically increasing the level of federal funding for the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown.

Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore delivered the good news to the Centre personally during a news conference Tuesday.

With Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea at his side, Moore announced that over the next three years the centre will benefit from increases to its current level of funding of $1,875,000.

By 2012-2013, the Centre will be receiving $3 million from Ottawa annually. 

“This new funding increase will ensure that the Confederation Centre of the Arts can continue to offer high-quality programming, such as the musical Anne of Green Gables or the Young @ Arts! program, that visitors have enjoyed for years,” Moore said.

And that wasn’t the only good news the minister brought with him.

Moore said that as of April 2010, the centre will also be eligible for the Endowment Incentives Fund. Ottawa uses that fund as a means of encouraging Canadians to support the arts financially by offering to match private-sector donations to an arts organization’s endowment fund.

And the good news didn’t stop there.

Moore, who noted he hails from the same part of B.C. as Amy Wallis, star of the Charlottetown Festival’s production of Anne of Green Gables, also announced $500,000 in additional funding through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund.

This fund, which comes from Canada’s Economic Action Plan, seeks to improve physical conditions of arts and culture spaces to promote creativity and innovation in the arts.
Moore told his audience in Charlottetown that the funding announced Tuesday came about in no small way as a result of Shea’s tireless efforts to promote the centre and its programming.
Shea said the increase in federal dollars will help ensure the financial stability the centre needs to continue to showcase the best in Canadian visual and performing arts.

The Egmont MP observed that Confederation Centre is a major economic and tourism generator for the economy of P.E.I. and that her government is proud to support it.
Centre officials have said the economic impact of the centre on P.E.I. is in the area of $45 million a year.

Wayne Hambly, chairman of the board of the Fathers of Confederation Buildings Trust, said Tuesday’s announcement was music to his ears.

“What can we say but thank you,” Hambly said. “What wonderful news.”

Hambly said the funding announced Tuesday allows the centre to further develop its programming in a number of areas and to continue to make much-needed repairs to the facility, which first opened its doors 45 years ago.

He said the centre has spent $12 million on much-needed repairs during this current round of renovations but much remains to be done.

“Today’s announcement is the most encouraging news we’ve heard in many years,” Hambly said.

Centre CEO David Mackenzie said the increase in operating funding and the ability to match endowment gifts will help the centre to be a 21st century celebration of Confederation that expresses Canada’s heritage, diversity and creativity through the arts.

Tuesday’s funding announcement was praised by Richard Homburg, chair of the board and CEO of Homburg Invest Inc., which recently contributed $2 million to the centre.

Homburg strongly encourages others to come forward with their financial support.
“The centre is very much a key anchor and a large part of the vitality of downtown Charlottetown,” Homburg said in a news release.
 

DOUG GALLANT
The Guardian
26/08/09
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=281156&sc=98