Revelstoke Arts Council, 1998
Feasibility, Arts Centre development
(with Proscenium Architecture + Interiors)


Revelstoke is a small (pop. about 8,000) community in the interior of British Columbia. Situated on the Columbia River, the town has been a transportation centre for more than a century, first as a riverport, then as a major railway town and now as an important centre on the Trans Canada Highway. Lamont Management was engaged to investigate the feasibility of developing an arts centre for the community of Revelstoke, and invited Proscenium Architecture to join the consulting team.

Two things began to emerge early in the course of the study. Revelstoke is capable of remarkable achievements when it decides to get something done. (The town's response to the end of the "mega-project boom" in 1985 was to revitalize the downtown area, creating a successful tourism magnet. The development of the Railway Museum in the early 90s is another success story.) Second, notwithstanding the liveliness of the performing arts in Revelstoke, the community does not presently have the audience base to support the quantity of programming that is required to make economic and financial sense for a purpose-built arts centre. As a result, the focus of the study shifted from a traditional analysis that would have resulted in a "not feasible" report, to an exploration of what might be possible to achieve given the community's human and financial resources.

Recognizing the future potential of growth in year-round tourism (particularly when the development of Mt. MacKenzie ski area goes ahead), the best strategy for the present appeared to be to develop a project to attract the already considerable number of summer tourists who overnight in the town. Such a project would prove the community's ability to produce new programs for the tourist market and would provide credibility to the proposition that the community needs and can support a permanent arts facility. We recommended that a show be created based on Revelstoke lore, and working with young post-secondary theatre students, presented in a temporary facility in the revitalized downtown area during the height of the tourist season.

Revelstoke Mayor Geoffrey Battersby has this to say following presentation of the report.

"McClymont's report was, in a way, disappointing because he had to conclude that we are not yet in a position to be able to support a Performing Arts Centre. It was, however, refreshing, to have someone deliver a good dose of realism instead of telling us what he thought we wanted to hear. He made some excellent suggestions to help us along an incremental path of more performing arts activities. I believe everyone left the presentation with positive feelings about where we go from here and not in the least discouraged. The feasibility study was money well spent indeed. We have been steered away from a course that could have been a financial disaster and onto a path that holds much promise."