Our letter to David Podmore
307—1683
Adanac
Street
Vancouver, BC
V5L 2C7
August 24, 2011
Mr. David
Podmore
, Chair
BC Pavilion Corporation
Box 16, Suite 850
999 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
V6C 2W2
Dear Mr. Podmore :
I draw your attention to a magnificent new concert hall which is about to open in Montreal.
http://www. osm .ca/en/index_ nouvelles _ liste _detail. cfm ? NewsID =320
As conductor Kent Nagano says in the brief video, a concert hall “reflects the identity of the community.” Why not consider a similar facility for the provincial lands around BC Place in Vancouver?
Vancouver is sorely in need of new exciting and contemporary cultural venues—a concert hall, an opera house, a lyric theatre, etc. What a statement such a development would make to the world about our city!
We have already noted the significance of similar developments in Oslo, Valencia, Copenhagen, and Miami Beach. Why not add Vancouver to this list of progressive cities?
Sincerely yours,
Tom
Durrie
, executive director
Arts Advocacy British Columbia
www.
artsadvocacybc
.ca
Copies to:
Mr. Warren Buckley, President and CEO, BC Pavilion Corporation
Hon.
Christy
Clark, Premier
Hon. Ida
Chong
, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development
The province should be in the business of making money not losing money. Your idea is ridiculous because this city can barely support the ill conceived Ford Center. If you want that then consider it an endowment. I dont think Paragon would have minded building one with Pavco but the casino is gone and so is the money that it generates.
Jay, thanks for your comment. I was unaware that government was in the business of making money. I always thought government raised money through taxation in order to provide benefits–like parks, transit, and cultural institutions–for the public good. Thanks for setting me straight.
Tom