A deadlock at Victoria city council Thursday may have sounded the death knell for a theatre company’s dreams of establishing a new arts hub in downtown Victoria.
With Mayor Marianne Alto and Coun. Chris Coleman absent and Coun. Susan Kim recusing herself for perceived conflict of interest, the remaining council members were left tied 3-3 on whether to award a $250,000 grant to The Other Guise Theatre Company for the project at 716 Johnson St.
The tie vote killed the motion, which would have required the city to register a mortgage against the building to secure its financial commitment to the project.
“We’ll try and stay optimistic, but boy, if the door wasn’t closing before, it sure is now,” said Other Guise artistic director Matthew Payne. “The clock is ticking.”
Payne said not getting the grant means The Other Guise might lose out on a commitment from Thrive Impact Fund, which would have offered up to $400,000 in flexible debt financing for the project.
“This is a pretty big blow for the long-term future of the project,” he said.
Payne hopes that if they can replace a city grant with other commitments, Thrive will see it as meeting their terms.
He said he was still scratching his head Thursday afternoon trying to understand council’s decision.
“I feel like we did everything we could,” he said, noting they even agreed to having a mortgage charge against the building to secure the city’s money.
“The value of the property according to B.C. Assessment is $1.935 million and the value of the mortgages is $1.85 million, so there’s a tremendous chance that if we did have to sell, the mortgagees would get paid back.”
The theatre company has been raising money to repay a $1.8-million loan it was given in 2022 when it bought the former Tomley’s Market building at 716 Johnson St. Kate Kempton, who provided the forgivable loan to purchase the building, is now ill and has been forced to recall the loan.
Payne said he broke the news to Kempton on Thursday and they will meet next week to discuss what happens next.
“I expect part of that conversation will be pretty difficult because I think we’ve tested that patience as far as we can,” he said.
If The Other Guise can’t come up with the money to repay Kempton, they may be forced to sell the building.
That prospect played a central role in opposition to awarding the grant.
Councillors Stephen Hammond, Marg Gardiner and Krista Loughton all voted against awarding the money.
Hammond said despite plans to register a mortgage, there was no guarantee the city would get its money back if the grant was advanced and the building had to be sold down the line.
“If this is a good project, then presumably there are other organizations that can also fund this project,” he said. “And it doesn’t have to be at the cost of the taxpayers.”
Gardiner said taxpayers can’t be asked to provide funding for entertainment venues that owe money to benefactors.
“The use of a major event program for acquisition funding or purchase of an entertainment venue is not appropriate in my mind,” she said, adding providing the grant could open the floodgates to other requests.
Loughton suggested the application came at the wrong time, with the city facing a double-digit tax increase this year.
“I’ve been told that this is the hardest budget Victoria has faced in decades,” she said. “This budget season is about defining wants and needs. And as much as I would love to see a performing arts space come to fruition, the harsh reality is we can’t afford it.”
But councillors in favour of advancing the grant – Jeremy Caradonna, Dave Thompson and Matt Dell — argued it was a small investment that would provide plenty of payoff by revitalizing a dingy corner of downtown.
“This is a drop in the bucket of the city budget that’s going to revitalize a key corridor, Johnson Street and Douglas,” said Coun. Matt Dell, adding leaving a boarded-up building provides no benefit to taxpayers.
Thompson said the arts enrich the community but also have economic value, bringing people downtown to spend money. “We do need affordable arts opportunities for our residents, especially as we get more homes downtown,” he said.
Caradonna argued it’s part of the job of local government to invest in arts and culture, which is struggling.
“There’s a lot of things that we can’t solve on our own, but one of the things that is our responsibility is to build rec centers, to invest in arts and culture and to revitalize our downtown.”
Payne said The Other Guise will be “ramping up” its community outreach in coming days to keep the dream of the performing arts venue alive. “We’ll be looking to that public to see what kind of support there might be there,” he said.
He noted that the goal is to be able to open the venue for some performing arts activities within the next two months.
“I’m optimistic we’re going to see some kind of bare bones performing arts venue happening here — it’ll look like a grocery store that somebody’s doing a show in.”
