Trinity United and CAC partner for the arts

Sep 29, 2021 | 2:37 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – “We’ve moved the pipe organ. It’s still connected. It still works. We’ve just moved it. We’re filling in the pit where it was. We’ve lowered the front, the knee wall that’s there, we’ve lowered it by about two and a half feet. So it just opens up sightlines. It changes a little bit, the acoustics. It opens it up a little more. So you get a little more resonance in the space. We’ve taken out the choir loft, taken out the risers to create an open flexible space.”

That is Reverend Dr. Bob Fillier talking about the changes to the Trinity United Church to make way for a 250-seat music venue, Reverend Fillier says there has always been a strong relationship with the arts community over the years.

“The need for a mid-sized music and event venue located in the downtown core was strongly identified during the early planning stages for our new Creative Hub,” says Sean Farrell, Executive Director for the Community Arts Council. “And with the pressing need for new art spaces being continuously and vocally expressed, especially in the last six months, we believe that we are offering a unique partnership and opportunity to revitalize a much-beloved heritage space into a first-class venue that can serve a wide range of emerging and professional performers.”

To that end, the Council has applied for funding to the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, a program offered by the Canadian Ministry of Heritage, to assist with the development of a planning project for revitalizing the space, which will include a review of design, engineering and architectural options, programming streams, conceptual plans for redesign, capital improvement budgets and management structures.

Regardless of the outcome of the funding application, the partners are moving ahead with their plans and hope to start having events in the venue by end of November.