Station House Gallery asks the 14 WL City Council candidates 2 Election Questions

Recently - Bev Pemberton (President of the Station House Gallery) sent an 2 part election questionaire to myself (and I presume to the other 13 Williams Lake City Council candidates and the 3 WL Mayoralty candidates)

The Questions were:

1. Do you support the relocation of the Station House building? Please explain.

2. Please describe how you will support Arts and Culture in our community if you are elected

Earlier this morning, I was pleased to respond with the following


1) As per the City’s Official Community Plan – I support the move of the Station House Gallery but I would like to see a position paper on this topic that has multiple sites under consideration to ensure the very best site is selected.  It is clear that the present location of the Station House Gallery can no longer support its’ needs however I would not be in favour of physically moving the Station House Gallery building itself, from its’ current location, as it has been identified as being a heritage building in the City of Williams Lake and we need to preserve this building for future generations and moving it would be contrary to the heritage designation, in my view


2) As most know – we have an established Cariboo Regional District Function called “Central Cariboo Arts and Culture”.  Further, there is a management contract between the new Central Cariboo Arts & Culture Society (CCACS) and the Cariboo Regional District to manage the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Function.  The CCACS is strategically positioned to know what their members’ needs for the local Arts and Culture sector are and I would expect that if they require support (either political, financial or other) that they’ll let the members of the Central Cariboo Joint Committee (City of WL Council &CRD Directors’ for Areas D, E and F) know and that is where I would take my direction.  Other than that, I’m very much looking forward to when the CCACS is able to report out on a Strategic Vision that speaks to a sustainable Central Cariboo Arts and Culture sector, plans for a Performing Arts facility (given the precarious state of Glendale Elementary, namely no guarantee it won’t close) and also support for our local Arts/Culture Facilities – like the Station House Gallery, the Central Cariboo Arts Centre, the local Museum and the Scout Island Nature Centre.