Shuswap Society For Arts & Culture board member Kari Wilkinson is asking residents to visit the Aviva Community Fund website and vote daily until Nov. 24 to get the Shuswap Centre for the Performing Arts into the semifinal round.
“We are heavily routing through our Facebook page to raise awareness and get votes so we can get into a new round of voting Dec. 1 to Dec. 10,” says Wilkinson, noting the top-40 ideas receive $5,000.
The $5,000 would be put towards the society’s business and operating plans, something society members are currently researching.
“And we need an economic-impact study completed because, for this to be successful and to get city council approval, we have to have a well-researched, sustainable business and operating plan,” Wilkinson says, explaining Lana Fitt from the Salmon Arm Economic Development Society is guiding society members.
Wilkinson says the society is hoping to attract new members and further diversify the skills at the board table.
“We’re looking for community partners in the sense we may need their expertise in running a large non-profit business,” she adds. “We may need their expertise in governance and how we best move this forward because this has to be built on a best-practices model.”
Part of the business plan is to define potential tenants and day users, another aspect board members are investigating.
“We are researching other performing art centres in western Canada to find out what’s working for them and what’s not working, and how we can arrive at what will work best in the Shuswap and be sustainable,” she adds.
If the performing arts centre gets enough votes to make it to the finals, the payoff could be as much as $50,000 to $100,000 – money that would complete business and operating plans and enable the creation of site plans.
To vote, visit the Shuswap Society for Arts & Culture’s Facebook page, which has a direct link to their idea on the Aviva website.
