New Plans Released for Fredericton’s Performing Arts Centre
FREDERICTON – Earlier this month, the city of Fredericton released the floor plans for its new Performing Arts Centre, which will sit at 580 King Street. Tim Yerxa, the executive director of the Fredericton Playhouse, has spoken with Huddle on the latest details.
Once complete, the new Performing Arts Centre will replace the Fredericton Playhouse as “Fredericton’s premier venue for live performance,” says Yerxa. It will be roughly two-and-a-half times larger than the Fredericton Playhouse and introduce a new world of live performance to Fredericton.
“It will be quite a different building in that it will have multiple performance centres, or performance venues, within it, as well as a substantial amount of public space and informal gathering spaces for events and gatherings,” Yerxa tells Huddle.
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Currently, Yerxa says that they are in the middle of the design process but are expecting to have the design fully developed by late spring. Once that’s complete, they will move on with construction permits.
When asked how this Performing Arts Centre would ideally affect the downtown life of Fredericton, Yerxa told Huddle that it will hopefully bring in new names and types of performers.
“It is going to be a prominent building, a prominent public building, and it’s certainly going to add to the energy of the provincial capital’s central business district,” says Yerxa.
In an email to Huddle, Giselle Goguen from the city of Fredericton says the new centre “will be such an important economic anchor for the downtown.”
Yerxa says that the new Performing Arts Centre will ideally draw people into the city, both as performers and as audience members.
“This is an important public building. It’s going to draw a lot of people into the downtown. It’s going to certainly add to the quality of life of the region, giving people great access to a wide variety of live performance experiences,” Yerxa tells Huddle.
In the upcoming weeks, Yerxa says that there will be a couple of open houses being hosted for the community. These are to allow the community to not only see the new floor plans, but also place their input in the design of the building and discuss their ideas with the architects that will be present.
The first open house is to be held on Sunday, March 26, from 2:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. The second will be held Tuesday, March 28, 4:30-7:30 p.m. Both will be at the Crowne Plaza in Fredericton, located at 659 Queen Street.
Yerxa says that there will be many opportunities during both open houses for community members to place their input. There is also a survey on the Engage Fredericton website where the city is looking for community input, along with images of the official floor plans.
Ryley Roach is a Huddle student intern, based in Fredericton. Send her your feedback and story ideas: [email protected]