Our Collaborative Journey: Building the Arts Centre
The realization of this Arts Centre project is a direct result of the dedication and expertise of long-time local arts leaders and engaged community members. The effort is built on the spirit of community and collaboration that has brought several key organizations and initiatives together to achieve a common goal.
One visionary at the heart of this work is Aida Arnold, a retired business owner who, alongside her husband David Miller, has passionately advocated for the arts in the region for over thirty years. Aida helped provide foundational physical space for creativity through the Antigonish Art Fair Society’s acquisition and repurposing of the old Visitor’s Centre into The Arts House, a facility that continues to support visual artists and Highland dance today.
In early 2022, Aida enlisted fellow local arts advocate and entrepreneur Tiiu Poder. Together, they launched an extensive series of consultations with artists and cultural professionals to assess both sectoral needs and the broader community’s aspirations. This research culminated in the development of the working paper “A Concept for a Cultural Hub in Northeastern Nova Scotia,” which has since been updated as the project has evolved and new partners have come on board.
A parallel and equally important movement began in 2023, when a group of artists started meeting regularly to explore the urgent need for adequate physical space. This group quickly organized into Antigonish Vision for the Arts (AVA). When Aida and Tiiu became aware of AVA’s parallel goals, they began attending meetings, establishing a shared commitment to support one another’s efforts. The collective momentum grew, and in May 2024 AVA formally became a committee under Antigonish Culture Alive (ACA), strengthening its community reach and mandate. Throughout this period, AVA collected data via a community survey and a Creative Community Symposium on June 29, 2024, and those outcomes now sit alongside other key project documents as part of the public record of this journey.
At the same time, Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre (FAST) began planning for its future in light of fire-code risks to the Bauer Theatre and the recognition that the building’s long-term lifespan is limited. FAST secured provincial and ACOA funding and, in the fall of 2024, hired ACT 1 Consulting to undertake a Blue Sky visioning process and program development work. Recognizing their shared vision for a vibrant cultural future, FAST joined forces with Aida and Tiiu in late 2024. This partnership led to the crucial joint Blue Sky visioning session in February 2025, facilitated by Act1 Consulting, with visual, performing, and community arts leaders around the table. Members of ACA participated in this session, and all the information gathered from AVA’s 2024 survey and Community Symposium was shared with Act1 to inform the Program Development document and preliminary costing.
Today, the project stands on a strong and deliberately transparent foundation of shared work.
- FAST is championing the performing arts facility component and has contributed significant architectural, operational, and costing analysis to the overall vision.
- Aida and Tiiu sparked the initial Concept Paper and continue to be core leaders in articulating a broad, multi-disciplinary arts vision for Northeastern Nova Scotia.
- ACA, through AVA and the emerging Steering Committee structure, is ensuring that community voice, grassroots input, and sector diversity remain at the heart of every decision.
Key outputs from each phase—such as the Concept Paper, the Act1 Blue Sky reflections, the joint Program Development document, AVA’s survey and symposium findings, preliminary Class D costing, and subsequent reporting to government—are being treated as official milestones in an evolving process, not as fixed endpoints. They are being shared publicly here to honour the many contributors and work done to date. The emerging Steering Committee, co-led by representatives of both the performing and creative arts sectors, will continue to guide this work so that no single individual or organization “owns” the vision, and all community members can see themselves reflected in the path forward.
Together, this network of committed individuals and organizations is working towards one shared goal: a right-sized, sustainable Arts Centre that reflects the community’s collective aspirations and builds on all the work that has already been done—openly, honestly, and in partnership.