A fundraising concert this month will help create a new home for the arts in downtown Nanaimo.
Jenny Vincent is chairperson of the Old City Arts Hub, a new not-for-profit organization soon to operate out of St. Andrew’s United Church. She is the music director at the church and has come to an agreement to use the space to host concerts and other art.
An agreement was reached to lease the space in November and Vincent said she is hoping the hub will be operational by the end of the summer. She assembled board members from the community and is approaching businesses to help with funding, in addition to proceeds from the benefit concert on Jan. 26.
Money from the concert will go toward renovations to make the space more capable of hosting a variety of arts. Vincent said there are plans to remove choir pews and extend the stage. The fund will also help with installing better lighting and a plexiglass railing on the balcony.
“This place is busy already. A lot of people want to come in here. Part of our mandate is to help young, emerging artists so we are going to look into all that,” Vincent said. “Besides just concerts, we are also doing renos in the hall so we have a stage there and we hope to fix it up a little bit so it is more attractive to theatre groups. We are hoping to have art exhibits, have art classes, music classes, programs for seniors – all types of things so it will be like a real community hub.”
The benefit concert is titled And Winter Came and musicians are donating their time to perform. Vincent said the show will offer a wide variety.
“It’s easy listening music – there’s some contemporary stuff, there’s a lot of classical stuff.”
Alexandra Lee will perform at the concert and said she loves the building and believes Nanaimo needs an intimate concert venue.
“There are not very many venues that are of this size in the city. So if you wanted to put on a concert but you can’t fill a big hall like the Port Theatre, the alternatives are few and far between,” she said.
The concert will start at 2:30 p.m. on Jan 26. Tickets cost $30 and can be purchased at http://eventbrite.com or at Window Seat Books.