Cape Breton arts and culture groups to receive $400K in provincial funding

Some arts and culture venues in Cape Breton are thankful they will be able to stay open and plan their futures thanks to provincial government funding.

The Nova Scotia government is providing more than $2 million for89 arts and culture groups throughout the province.

Of that $2 million, $400,000 will go to 11 groups from Cape Breton. Theywill receive funding rangingfrom $5,000 to the maximum grant of $75,000.

The Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay, the Gaelic College in St. Ann's, as well asthe New Dawn Convent Societyand the Highland Arts Theatre, both in Sydney, will receive the maximum grant.

Aiming forApril reopening

Pam Leader, executive director of the Savoy Theatre,said the grant will help the nearly 100-year-old theatre through the first months of 2021.

"We hope to open in April, if all goes well.We will also live stream because there were so many people across the country who ...were just loving it," she said, adding it made people feel "like they were home."

Leader could not say how much revenue the theatre has lost during the pandemic because its fiscal year has not yet ended.

She said she hopes public healthrestrictions will ease in the coming months so the theatre and the province can agree on how to safely host an audience inside the venue.

"We're such a large venue that even when restrictions do change a little bit, it's still hard for us to open like a 760 [seat]theater for 100 people," said Leader.

Programs suddenlysuspended

The New Dawn Convent opened last Februaryand quickly had to stop planning any art programs and focus on the tenants that work out of the building. The Conventis billed on its website as "a creative community to inspire artists, residents and visitors."

Manager Christie MacNeilsaid the Convent has suffered a significant loss because it wasunable to rent out spacesin 2020.

"Event rental space income makes up a lot of how we are able to provide subsidized affordable spaces for artists in the building," said MacNeil.

She said with that loss, along withrent abatement for four tenants, they really needed the extra help.

"This funding is really critical to aid in the sustainability of the project," said MacNeil.