There used to be 60 people signed up for the parent and tot gym time, says Christine Walker, Bowen Island's community recreation supervisor. But the popular program can no longer be offered.
"Due to the increasing number of students at BICS, they need to use the gym all the time now. We used to have more access for community recreation but we lost all our daytime programming. We used to have carpet bowling in the gym. And we had the parent and tot program. Now there is no other space for them. We have a large young family population on the island and no space to run those programs."
Walker is also the municipal staff liaison for the Bowen Community Centre Action Committee (BCCAC), a group that is working diligently towards building a facility for such programs. Shari Ulrich chairs the committee. She said, "The demand is real and it is only going to increase by the time [the community centre] will be built. In that mix are the current and future needs for programs for seniors, children, youth, adults and families - the full demographic."
Ulrich was pleased to announce that the committee is making good progress. "Florrie Levine was recently hired to be our project manager. Her mandate is to develop the four key elements: the conceptual plan, the business plan, the governance structure and the fundraising strategy. We really needed the kind of expertise that Florrie brings to the table."
Levine said, "They were looking for someone to manage all the aspects of the work required to meet the mandate. The first step was to explain the need to advance all four elements simultaneously because they are all interrelated. For example, for the business plan, we do an analysis of the current municipal and community expenditures and assets. Based on that, we build a capital budget to fund the construction of the facility. Then we look at current community facility uses and projected potential revenues for the facility, and this generates an operating budget."
Ulrich said, "We are currently in the process of gathering information from the studies that have been done and plugging in the current financial information, community space needs, and governance organizational parameters."
The committee is going to council with an interim report in June. Both Levine and Ulrich stressed the multi-use function of the community centre. Levine said, "And there is not just the recreation aspect, but also the performance aspect. Every space in the building needs to be a balance of recreation and arts."
Jackie Minns, the artistic producer of King Baby Productions, has a similar perspective. "The limited venue options on Bowen are severely affecting our ability to stage productions and the performing arts community continues to struggle with rising production cost. For example, take Broadway on Bowen. A highly skilled and dedicated group rehearsed for two months and spent a lot of time and energy. And it was only on stage for two nights and a lot of people couldn't get in to see the show.
"We are operating out of venues that function well as a one- or two-time rental," Minns says. "The stage has to be built and taken down because performances aren't the priority use of those venues. So we can't have longer runs or larger audiences that would make those productions economically viable. And often we are unable to book the spaces at appropriate calendar dates."
Minns added that "this doesn't only affect theatre but also musical productions and film screenings."
Ulrich is determined that the long held dream will see fruition. "What we do goes beyond just creating space; it is a community-building effort."
