RE: FREDERICTON’S PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE
As members of the arts community in the Greater Fredericton Area, we write to express our enthusiastic support for the new Performing Arts Centre (PAC) that is proposed to replace the much-loved but failing Playhouse. Many of us are practicing artists who have performed at the Playhouse, including Juno and ECMA Award-winning musicians and actors on international stages; some of us lead local or provincial organizations that help the creative arts thrive, including those that rely on the Playhouse as a venue to present performances and events. All of us recognize that a professional facility such as the Playhouse is an indispensable component of this vibrant city’s cultural life. Fredericton would be a much lesser place without it.
As a community, we count on the Playhouse to present the best available performing artists in music, theatre, dance, comedy, and more; we also count on it to provide space where our own, home-grown artists, musicians, dancers, theatre companies – whether youthful or seasoned, amateur or professional – can create and present their work. It is a place where we gather to celebrate creativity, to connect with each other, and to enjoy an enhanced quality of life.
However, while it has served us well for several decades, the Playhouse is now beyond its useful life; its design and condition make refurbishing it unfeasible. We cannot lose this valuable community asset. It must be replaced.
The leaders at the Fredericton Playhouse and the City of Fredericton have a bold plan to build a new PAC to replace the current facility. Like the dozens of downtown businesses that signed a similar joint letter last Spring, we fully support this plan to invest in cultural infrastructure in our region – a plan that will build on the Playhouse’s record of success and take it to a new level by providing greater capacity, increased versatility, better functionality, and an improved audience experience.
The City of Fredericton has identified this project as its top priority for new infrastructure, committing $14 million to its construction and commissioning a design for the new facility. We encourage other levels of government to do their part to make the PAC a reality by providing the necessary funding to build it.
As we embark on our collective recovery from the impact of COVID-19 on the performing arts, the PAC will be a most welcome investment. We urge all levels of government to work in partnership with each other and the community to address this urgent priority for our cultural sector.
Yours sincerely,
| Judie Acquin-Miksovsky | Indigenous Artist |
| Zach Atkinson | Coordinator, Shivering Songs Festival |
| John Ball | Actor, Theatre Director, and Chair, UNB Dept. of English |
| Jarrett Bartlett | Musician, Sound Engineer |
| Don Bossé | Director of STU Jazz, Music Educator |
| Mike Bravener | Musician, Performer |
| Tania Breen | Director, Performer, and Professor, STU Fine Arts |
| Measha Brueggergosman-Lee | Performer, Soprano |
| Wayne Burley | Former President, Fredericton Playhouse |
| Marshall Button | Actor, Playwright, Director; Artist-in-Residence, Capitol Theatre |
| Paul Campbell | CEO, Downtown Blues Band |
| Matt Carter | Editor, Grid City Magazine |
| Emma Chevarie | Founder and CEO, Music Runs Through It |
| Sarah Clarke-Rowinski | Director, X-treme Dance Studio |
| Michelle Daigle and Don Rigley | Performers, Frantically Atlantic Entertainment |
| Leslee Dell | Director, Dance Fredericton |
| Sally Dibblee | Singer, Teacher, Conductor |
| Mike Doherty | Composer, Sound Designer, Music Director, Conductor |
| Jo-Anne Elder | Writer, Translator, and Chair, Word Feast Literary Society |
| Len Falkenstein | Artistic Director, Bard in the Barracks and NotaBle Acts Summer Theatre Festival |
| Katie FitzRandolph | President, Fredericton Arts Alliance |
| Pat Flanagan | Musician |
| Jason Flores | Bassist, Montgomery Street Band |
| Norm Foster | Playwright |
| Heather Fyffe | Conductor, F’ton Choral Society; Director, F’ton Concert and Marching Band |
| Cheryl Gillespie | President, Fredericton Music Teachers Association |
| Ryan Griffith | Playwright and Artistic Director, Next Folding Theatre Co. |
| Garry Hansen | Musician |
| Tristan Horncastle | Artist |
| Richard Hornsby | Director, Fredericton Symphony Orchestra and NB Summer Music Festival |
| Tom Hoyt | Producer, New Brunswick Country Showcase |
| David Huebert | Author and Co-Director of Creative Writing, UNB |
| Mike Johnston | Former Technical Director, Theatre UNB and Memorial Hall |
| Bonnie Kilburn | Dance School Director |
| Andy, Olivia, and Graysen LaPointe | Performers |
| Sharisse LeBrun | Artist and Director, TNB Theatre School |
| Tony LePage | Broadway Actor, Come from Away, Rock of Ages |
| John Leroux | Manager of Collections and Exhibitions, Beaverbrook Art Gallery |
| Ian LeTourneau | Former Cultural Laureate of Fredericton; Founder, Word Feast |
| Trent Logan | Technical Director, Theatre UNB and Memorial Hall |
| Natasha MacLellan | Artistic and Executive Director, Theatre New Brunswick |
| Marie Maltais | Director, UNB Art Centre |
| Julie Maston | President, Fredericton Music Festival |
| Tony Merzetti | Executive Director, New Brunswick Filmmakers’ Co-operative |
| Andrew Reed Miller | Musician and Composer |
| Joel Miller | Artist |
| Gina Moreno | President, Filipino-Canadian CommUNITY of New Brunswick |
| Michael Morrison | National Blogger |
| James Mullinger | Performing Artist |
| David Myles | Musician, Singer/Songwriter |
| Carolyn Nielsen | Vocalist, Bel Canto Singers |
| Tim Rayne | Filmmaker |
| Jeff Richardson | General Manager, Harvest Music Festival |
| Lisa Anne Ross | Director, Solo Chicken Theatre Co. and Coordinator, Black Box Theatre |
| Chris Saad | Technical Director, Theatre St. Thomas and Black Box Theatre |
| Peter Sametz | Director of Operations, Symphony New Brunswick |
| Samaqani Cocahq-Natalie Sappier | Wolastoqiyik Indigenous Artist |
| Judy Joe Scheffler | Stage Manager and Technical Theatre Instructor, UNB |
| Terry Seguin | Former CBC Host |
| Anne Sessa | Director, Camerata Singers |
| Philip Sexsmith | Founding Director, Characters Incorporated |
| Ilkay Silk, OC | Theatre Director |
| Sue Sinclair | Editor, The Fiddlehead, and Co-Director of Creative Writing, UNB |
| Ben Smith | Artistic Director, Impulse Productions |
| Brent Staeben, ONB | Artistic Director, Harvest Music Festival |
| Courtney Steeves | Executive Director, Charlotte Street Arts Centre |
| Krista Touesnard | Musician and Music Educator |
| Jordan Trethewey | Poet Laureate, City of Fredericton |
| Madhu Verma | Founding Chair, Asian Heritage Society of New Brunswick |
| Kelly Waterhouse | Musician and Music Educator |
| Greg Webber | Musician, Kill Chicago |
| Julie Whitenect | Executive Director, ArtsLink NB |
| Shawn Wright | Actor and Playwright |
| Zhenyong Yang | President, Chinese Cultural Association of New Brunswick |
| Eddie Young | Founder, Roots & Soul Music Promotions |
| Nick Zildjian | CEO, FMZ Productions Inc. |