At tonight’s city council meeting, HRM staff will present the staff report “1588 Barrington Street as an Arts & Culture Incubator.” This, of course, is the recommendation from staff to council to continue using, and to expand the cultural services offered in the Khyber building, which is seen as a big part of the Barrington revitalization plan. Historic stuff, kiddies. Well, yes and no.
Issues surrounding the building, its management and occupancy have been looming since I started at The Coast, over six years ago. Graffiti, taxes, overwhelmed staff, physical repairs, empty spaces—there’s a long history of conflict between the Khyber Arts Society board and staff and the city. So last week’s panic over some of the language in the report isn’t a surprise.
The Khyber board received the report last Friday at the end of the day (of a long weekend), which gave them no time to prepare their own presentation for a Tuesday council session. “We were expecting it earlier,” Khyber director Dan Joyce told me last week, “but the length of time kept shrinking and shrinking.” Concerned, board member Garry Neill Kennedy approached councillor Dawn Sloane and asked for a postponement to this week, which probably would have happened anyway, but it gave a chance for the Khyber and the city to meet to clear up some issues. “We want clarity,” said Joyce, in that conversation. “We’re not looking to argue.”
While everyone wants the same thing—a fully functional arts centre—the biggest issue that the Khyber saw in the report was a duplication of services. From page 16: “The proposed Operating Strategy recommends retaining a third of the leasable space, or about 1,776ft , for HRM’s own cultural programs, such as artists studios, exhibit space and a reception desk.” If a third of the space was programmed by the city, did that mean that KAS, who had been programming the space for years, would eventually be squeezed out?
On Friday I spoke to Christine Lavoie, team lead, HRM Culture and Heritage Development, about the role of the report. “The purpose of the report is to inform council what is happening with that specific property, but also to inform them of the gap we are experiencing, which is the need for an incubator-type space. So first council will be looking to identify if that’s their priority. And if that’s the case how will we proceed.”
According to Lavoie, talk of programming is premature—right now it’s up to council to pass the recommendation.
“There are no plans. This is just the first step on trying and get the support for this type of space. And once that’s done, if it gets done, then we’ll be able to work with the community to program that space. And by the community I mean as well, the Khyber Arts Society, of course.”
Earlier on Friday, KAS board members Garry Kennedy, Colleen Wolstenholme and Wallace Brannen met with Dawn Sloane and HRM staffers Andrew Whittemore and Jamie MacLellan. Lavoie and Joyce both say that the meeting went well, and that the outcome was fairly positive. Nothing will happen anyway, unless council approves tonight. This should be interesting. In fact, I am working on a little drinking game that involves certain councillors’ reactions… Although Lavoie says that community cultural space planned for the new Halifax Central Library is a completely different type of arts space, and she’s totally right, I wonder if some of the councillors will understand the difference. The support for the Khyber building will most likely come down to whether enough of them see it as strategic for Barrington.
Although it’s way too early to throw the confetti, here is the Khyber’s vision for the space:
-to rent the first floor to a private business like Just Us cafe (the two have had very early discussions about the potential partnership). HRM would collect a market rent and allow Just US/KAS to program daily music/readings/lectures.
-the second floor would continue to be used for arts programming and special events.
-re-start a 80-90 seat indie cinema on the third floor, like the old Wormwood. Right now, the Carbon Arc film series is happening on the second floor.
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This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2010.
Why is KAS so special that the entire premise of the proposal is built around them? Why is HRM investing taxpayer money into renos so that they can compete with private-sector landlords to poach away tenants like Just Us? Is this the best use for this site? How is it different from the $55 million library which is also supposed to support such activities? Is it simply a clubhouse for a group of insiders from which the vast majority of citizens get zero benefit? Is it another bottomless pit that HRM can continue to pour taxpayer money into?
Lots of questions with no answers. I hope council rejects this outright and demands a more broad-ranging approach to alternatives.
“Arts & Culture Incubator” – more like cockroach, bedbug, body crab and STD incubator.
“The HRM and the artists who run programs at the Khyber were locked in a dispute. In 2005, a two-year-old facility management deal was revoked because rent and taxes weren’t paid, the building was neglected and there were safety concerns, a staff report states.
Now council is being asked to endorse a three-year plan to renovate the building so it meets fire codes and has an elevator. The municipality would still own it, but would cede management to artists.
Construction would cost between $800,000 and $1 million, but the building would be a key “arts and culture incubator” for the city, staff said.”
The above was taken from the CBC site yesterday – nice that we, the taxpayers, are going to shell out almost a million buckaroos so the Artistic Community can incubate!
It will become a drop in (out) centre for panhandlers and other street performers (translation; people who piss in the doorways).
I’m glad this proposal has been endorsed by city council. Halifax and its residents should be proud to have a council that is supportive of the arts and a centre like the Khyber that can serve as a focal point for the artistic community and its supportors.
I’m from out of province, coming to Halifax to practice medicine, and one of the draws of Halifax, after having come here for a 2 week stint last year, was the rich arts community that you have here. Stuff like this attracts people to a city – not ugly convention centres, beautifully paved roads, or Costcos in the suburbs.
Council did the right thing. The situation at the Khyber is different now than it was five years ago. This is exactly the way I want to see my municipal tax dollars spent: preservation of valuable heritage building stock, revitalization of downtowns, real support for arts groups. There is plenty of data to show that a buzzing arts scene is a great catalyst for other economic activity as well as neighbourhood renewal. Just look at Agricola Street for an example. Thank you HRM Council. You’ve renewed my faith . . . for a while, at least.
I like the idea, it just needs to be pedestrian friendly. To be honest, it looks more like a crack house than an inviting arts space. There needs to be a serious makeover and rebranding of the facility if this is to fly. I’m happy council is letting this go ahead, but I fear it will go off the rails just as quick as it got on.
The Khyber Arts Society did us all a favour by paying the oil bills on that building for the decade that noone seemed to give a crap about it. Without the KAS there keeping it livable, it probably would’ve gone mouldy much like the Greenvale School in Dartmouth, another beautiful historic building owned by the city. The Khyber Building (fingers crossed) will be a thriving arts centre, while the Greenvale building is now just a facade over some new condos.
Also, the KAS has always done as much outreach as they can, but have been pretty hamstrung by the fact that for the last SIX YEARS the small staff & volunteer board have been in constant negotiation with a rotating cast of city staffers to keep their space. One of the best things about this plan will be if it means the KAS can get some of its time back, to focus on bringing arts experiences to the Halifax community.
Wrong Ivan certainly has the right name, since his comment is more than wrong, it is offensive. Same for Basil Fawlty’s ill-informed comment. Artists generate enormous social and economic benefit with their usually grossly underpaid work, and the KAS deserves full support for working out a viable plan for this building – one that, because of its heritage nature, does not easily lend itself to other uses. Fortunately, artists have the creativity to work with what they have, even when that is cute but cramped heritage spaces.
Are you ‘avin a laugh?. Baz, is she ‘avin a laugh?
If it weren’t for artists how on earth would fair trade coffee and starbucks get their baristas?
Artists seem to have the ability to shake down the taxpayers on a regular basis.
Since I’m on a pop-culture reference roll I will finish up with the immortal words of Tony Soprano:
“All this soul-searching Janice; it’s always on my fucking dime”