The Board of Directors of the Yarmouth Arts Regional Council is waiting to hear back from the town.
Board president Mitch Bonnar says they met with Mayor Pam Mood and CAO Jeff Gushue on June 14.
He says they’re hoping for another sit-down very soon.
Bonnar says they expressed their concerns with some stipulations that the town required of the Th’YARC if they agreed to locate a new arts centre in the downtown.
“It’s not necessarily the downtown location. Eight or ten years ago when we did this they were trying to force us to use the Collins Street parking lot which we saw as a problem in itself, but they were just basically going to gives that lot and we were going to build our theatre. Now, ten years later, they decided that not only do they still want to use the Collins Street parking lot, but they want to own the facility, build the facility and run it like the Mariners Centre, which would leave us with no autonomy and nothing but tenants.”
Bonnar says at this point that is totally unacceptable to Th’YARC’s Board of Directors.
“But that’s ok. We’re still talking, we’re still negotiating and we’ll see if we can come to some agreement for both.
Bonnar was asked how much longer this could go on.His reply: “Not much longer.” When asked what he meant, he said: “We have other options and we’re going to explore those options.”
He said he would not discuss those options publicly at this time.
