When Ken Walker considers the opportunities his family has had in Jasper, he finds much to praise in the community. But there is something lacking, he believes. A permanent space for the performing and visual arts. A resource for the community to learn, to display their work and to reflect in the beneficent glow of public art.

Walker heads up the Jasper Performing and Visual Arts Society (JPVAS) an “umbrella group” that represents the interests of seven separate arts groups in town. The group was formed in the fall of 2004 in response to discussions going on as part of the Facility Review process undertaken by the Municipality of Jasper.

“Over the years there have been a number of groups interested in a theatre or performance space,” Walker said. “With this group we can speak with one voice.” 

Counting organizations such as the Jasper Artists Guild among its members, JPVAS has also been reaching out to groups with a slightly lower profile in the community. Walker has recently discussed the idea of a community arts space with the Jasper Quilter’s Guild, for instance.

“We want to be inclusive,” said Walker. “It’s not just up to us (JPVAS) what this space might look like.”

Walker’s group is still at a very early stage in the process of lobbying for support from the town or from the public, but he has a very general idea of the facilities a future arts centre should include.

Besides a professional theatre space and a gallery-style facility for the display of visual arts, Walker wants to ensure that there will be creation space for clubs and artists and also office space for non-profit arts groups. The Jasper Heritage Folk Festival is in of need administrative space, for example.

JPVAS has had contact with the Rotary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna, a recently-opened facility that features the type of facilities that Walker has in mind.

“Obviously, we would be looking at something smaller by the Kelowna standard,” he said.

There are specific size and layout requirements for any visual arts space, according to Walker, but determining the layout for a performance facility is much more complicated.

Walker believes that a theatre facility with seating for between 300 and 500 is a possibility, but beyond the stage and seating there will be certain requirements for backstage and technical space if the facility is to be considered professional.

“We have talked about professional space so that we’d be able to attract groups from elsewhere to perform,” he said. The facility wouldn’t be intended to boost tourism, however.

“We would welcome visitors, but the space has to meet the needs of the community.” 

One area Walker is particularly keen on emphasizing is the possibility for Jasper’s students to become more involved with the arts. Reflecting on the proposed redevelopment of the high school that would see the stage removed due to lack of provincial funding, Walker thinks an arts centre could provide some diversity in opportunities for local youth.

“They are talking about having a huge gym (in the renovated high school) and we’re saying, let’s nurture the other side, the artistic side, as well.”

Although Walker expresses a preference for the Old Fire Hall site for any future arts development, he admits that JPVAS is far from a final position on the matter.

“We can’t get fixated on a space,” he said. “We need to be able to shift according to our needs.” The group is open to pursuing the possibility of space within a redesigned high school, for example.

“We want a space- if it’s with the town, great. There are many advantages to working with the schools as well,” Walker said. “Who’s to say we couldn’t work something out?”

The concept of a permanent facility seems to have support with the municipal government. When the facility review recommendations were presented to Council last month, the Old Fire Hall was designated as a possible site for a future arts complex. With a conference centre also on the town’s wish list, the facility review committee recommended looking into a joint cultural/conference facility on the Old Fire Hall site. For the time being, Council is likely to enter into a three-year lease agreement with JAG to use the existing building as exhibition space. This would provide JPVAS and other groups like Jasper Tourism and Commerce with a time frame ending sometime in 2008 to come up with a proposal for a new facility. 

Not everyone in Jasper is eager to see a dedicated performance space built in the near future. Janice Yeaman, a twenty-year resident who attends cultural events and performances in town whenever she can, worries about people filling the seats.

“My first thoughts were that I just have a problem with building something until you know you need it,” she said. When out at performances, Yeaman is “always amazed” at the small audience sizes. Although she recognizes that the Multi-Purpose Hall in the Activity Centre and the United Church are not the ideal venues for certain acts, the price is right.

“At Arts Jasper events, you can listen to classical music for free and get into mainstage concerts for three dollars,” she said. “How will families afford to go if it costs twenty dollars per person?”

At a recent performance by the McDade’s, Yeaman counted only 70 people in the “crowd,” if these are the numbers that would turn out to future performances in a professional theatre, ticket prices would have to increase accordingly, she said.

“I think it’s important to understand why more people aren’t coming,” Yeaman said.”If there is a big fuss and discussion, maybe there will be more people coming out...a sort of if you build it they will come...and that would be great.

“Our challenges with the arts in Jasper go beyond a building and I hope that the group is discussing that,” she continued. Yeaman is pleased that a new facility would not be intended as a tourist attraction, but adds that if it’s meant as a community resource for young people in particular, the proposed school renovations offer a good opportunity.

“It’s a renovation of an existing place with washrooms, parking and so on,” she said. “It would be wonderful to keep a stage in the school.” 

Yeaman worries that timelines for finalizing proposals might derail an attempt to get the arts groups involved with the school project.

“It would be unfortunate if poor decisions are made due to deadlines.”

Town Councillor Mike Day has seen first hand the difficulty faced by performers and artists in Jasper. Day moved here in 1986 to run a theatre company with Peter Lynch, who is now serving as vice-president of JPVAS. Day recalls a constant shuffle between available basements and hotel ballrooms so that the shows could go on.

“I think we had to tear down the stage completely about six times in two months one summer,” he said. “We started the first summer in the basement of the Amethyst Lodge and we performed in churches, at the JPL, wherever there was space.”

After a number of years, the curtain fell on Lynch and Day.

“Eventually, we stayed in Jasper full time and we realized that it was a pretty hard way to make a living,” Day recalled.

Day is keen to see the artistic potential of Jasperites realized with a new arts complex.

“There are so many people out there with skill sets and it’s one area where we’re really lacking in Jasper,” he said. But Day would want to be sure that there will be people to fill the theatre and use the craft space before launching into any new and expensive project.

“Without public support, you’re building a white elephant and you don’t want that.”

The possibility of a permanent arts centre is now firmly in the public eye thanks to facility review process and Day expects that people will start reacting to the idea soon.

“I think that its been put up as a fairly high priority,” he said. “Sometimes people just won’t show up and tell you what they want but when you give them a suggestion then they’re quick to respond.”

However the public might react, Day wants people to remember that the concept is still in its infancy.

“Funding would certaintly be a big issue,” he said. “We haven’t costed it out. This could take a long time.”

With the possible locations for an arts centre now out in the open. JPVAS is planning to increase their public profile in the weeks and months ahead, Walker said.

“We’ll start to take a higher profile, maybe with a membership drive or a social evening,” he said. For now, people wishing to be part of JPVAS can buy memberships for $10 from the museum and Jasper Camera and Gift. The organization currently has about 25 members, Walker said.