Ai2 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 17, 1997 Radical plans hatched to keep theatre afloat Fees, advertising and booze sales pondered By CRIS LEYKAUF R.E.M. LEE Theatre manager Tom Walker has a number of money-making idcas for the theatre —~ ideas that will hapefully keep it open, The R,E.M. Lee's future was placed in doubt when the Coast Mountain school dis- trict slashed $100,000 from the budget of it and the Mount Elizabeth Theatre in Kitimat last spring, The school district-owns both theatre and cut their budgets because. of district-wide culs imposed by the education ministry, In order to come up with the $100,000, trustees imposed a head tax of $1.50 at the R.E.M. Lee and took a $60,000 con-@ tingency Fund. At the § Sept. 9 school board incetings trustces also approved rent increases, the most @® significant of those is i raising the non-profit rate from $300-$450 for Saturday night. At that same mect- ing trustees also ap- 12: : roved charging schools for technical Val George support — which will amount to 350-3100 per production, says Walker. Theatre users protested the sudden cuts, and offered to come up with alternative ways to make money. So before summer vacation the school district agreed to listen ideas from the group, spearheaded by both theatre managers. Walker says he hasn’t made any formal proposals yet, but he likes the idea of hav- ing a non-profit society run both theatres, under a lease agreement with the school district. That way the school district is an arms-length landlord, and would pay for theatre time like any other group. It’s an idea he says works well in cities like Prince Rupert, Kamloops and Duncan. He hasn't approached the school board yet, but is hopeful. Coming up with ways for the theatre to make money will require more work, “It's easy to slash a budget,’’ he says, “but it’s difficult to create one,”’ “Walker has approached some corpora- tions, to see if they'd be interested in using the R.E.M. Lee as a venue for advertising. They've told him they’d be more interested if a non-profit socicty ran the theatres, Selling ‘alcohol during’ certain shows would be another way to make money, he says. But he doesn’t know how the school board would react to that idea, - The: ban on. liquor.in. school..buildings is... actually an education ‘ministry policy, Walker thinks having a non-profit society run the theatre might be a way to side-step thal issue. | 7 And finally, Walker says in order for the theatre to make money, it will need to spend money. For example, he bas no tech- nical training, yet teaches people how to “It’s one of our important facilities in the community, and it’s not going to be able to operate effectively with the budget the school district has given it this year and in com- ing years.” use the equipment. The theatre in Prince Rupert has both a technician anda man- ager. oo, More. technical help is necessary, says Walker, if he’s going to be busy putting to- gether more shows. _ The school district has asked city council for financial help as.well, and plans to write to the regional district, Councilor Val George says in the past that the city has turned down such requests. ““But we can’t just simply slough it off and say it's not our problem,” he said. “It's one of our important facilities in the community, and it’s not going to be able to operate effectively with the. budget the school district has given it this year and in coming years.’” “The city won't be able to offer any help in this fiscal year, he says, ‘bul council is going to iook af options for next year. The miatter’s been referred to council’s committee of the whole. Back By 4 Popular Demand Hanky Panky’s Presents Black & White Night Saturday, Sept 21 it flaunt! 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