The Civic Theatre has been closed for almost three months now, with roof repairs underway by the City of Nelson. If you have been watching the news about the closure of the Ontario Science Centre, you will also understand how fortunate we all are that our municipality is making this effort to revitalize a central civic facility for another generation of community use.
Moriyama Teshima Architects, the firm that designed the Ontario Science Centre in the 1960s, has now offered their services free of charge to save the building. In their own statement released in late June, they said, “Rejuvenating the building is the only pathway to the necessary reduction in carbon associated with new building materials. Preliminary analysis has identified a new building at half the size … to have seven times the embodied carbon impact compared to reusing the existing building. Regenerating and revitalizing this remarkable building and its site is the only responsible approach in the climate emergency. Preservation rather than erasure of our cultural heritage is the only responsible approach to evolving our cultural identity.”
Old buildings are liabilities, and they are expensive ones. In a community like Nelson, where we have a large amount of turn-of-the-century and early 20th century buildings, we have perhaps hit a moment when if our older buildings haven’t been maintained, they may be approaching the point of no return. However, the quote from Moriyama Teshima Architects makes such an important point as the worlds of architecture and climate collide – revitalization is a much more responsible action than tearing down and starting again.
However, it comes with its own challenges and burdens. In our case, The Civic Theatre is a purpose-built space and while we can upgrade and add to many aspects of it, we cannot easily change some things because of the poured-in-place concrete structure. As we continue on our journey to develop the architectural plans for our renovation, I’m in awe of the places where we are able to be creative, and the places where the building stops us, forcing us to make other choices. We will be able to begin talking about what the plans will be soon, and I’m looking so forward to sharing them with the community.
In the meantime, this is a very complex time for us as an organization. Our main source of income is gone for the time being, and yet we have an abundance of ways that you can enjoy film this year, including the Railtown Drive-In throughout the summer and fall, and 225 Hall St. is open with Reo’s Video and The Shoebox ready to welcome you. We are also preparing for the second annual STOODIS Indigenous Film Festival this fall (save the date: Sept. 27-30), and are looking forward to our third iteration of Sketch Camp in August. Our artist residency program continues, and we are delighted to be at all the Wednesday and Saturday Markets where you can meet staff and volunteers, learn more about NCTS and The Civic Theatre, buy some Civic Spice, and start or renew your membership.
We are also immensely grateful to the support we have received from local businesses and individual donors over the last few months — it is their support that is enabling us to continue to remain visible and relevant during this very challenging time.
It is a great time to see a movie, to be a member of NCTS, and to join us in our journey this year. We are open, and we look forward to seeing you in one of our current venues soon. Check www.civictheatre.ca/whats-on for listings.
Eleanor Stacey is the executive director of Nelson Civic Theatre Society (NCTS), which runs The Civic Theatre and 225 Hall St. (The Shoebox Theatre and Reo’s Video), and is home of the Kootenay Screen-based Industry Workers Program and a founding partner of the Kootenay Regional Film Commission. Large Popcorn, Extra Butter appears monthly.
