City disputes claims of stalled talks with local arts centre over funding delay

The National accessARTS Centre's CEO says the city is putting the organization's just-announced new home in jeopardy.

Only a week after announcing a plan to move the National accessArts Centre (NaAC) from the crumbling Fairview Arena annex to the abandoned Scouts’ Hall in West Hillhurst, the agency’s CEOJung-Suk (JS) Ryu says the city is putting the project in danger by throwing up bureaucratic roadblocks.

“Unfortunately, this sense of enthusiasm and hope for our disability arts organization seems to be rather short lived.” said Ryu in a Thursday morning press conference.

“What is now abundantly clear is that our organization, despite the incredible contributions we and our community continue to make in Calgary’s arts and culture scene and the disability community at large, are not good enough for (city council and administration).”

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The City of Calgary says it is willing to work with NaAC on securing its new facility, despite claims from the organization that municipal delays have driven up costs and prevented progress.

Ryu said the organization has been left in limbo.

“As so many Calgarians have come to realize, working with this particular council and administration is akin to being in bizarro world,” Ryu said. “Where the opposite of logic and reason holds true.”

The NaAC lost its home in 2018 when the roof of the Fairview Arena collapsed.

In 2021, the city and the organization selected a former Scouts Canada building for its visual arts programs, with plans to build a performing arts centre next door.

Shortly after the site was selected, the city designated the building a heritage resource. Ryu said that has fostered municipal delays have prevented the move.

“The Scouts building has never been upgraded since its opening in 1967,” he said. “And clearly, in the ’60s, they had a very different perspective on accessibility and inclusion, and so there are a lot of costs embedded with that.”

NaAC planned renovations, but says the city-imposed heritage designation prevent the changes.

Instead, the city proposed building a new accessible entrance with an elevator on the east side.

“The city’s own plan was to build that entrance,” Ryu said. “Any normal human being would assume that this act of generosity would also mean the city would cover the cost.”

Instead, he said, the project’s cost has risen from an initial $2.5-million estimate to $6.1 million, partly due to heritage restrictions.

In July 2023, the city committed $4.5 million to the project and told NaAC to raise the remaining $1.6 million by March 31, 2025.

Within six months, the organization secured $1.45 million in cash, plus a $300,000 pledge spread over five years.

But city officials later said it required 90 per cent of the funds upfront before approving the project, and that the commitment from Trico Communities did not satisfy funding requirements.

“We met 90 per cent of the goal in record time,” Ryu said. “But because $300,000 is coming in installments, they’re saying that isn’t good enough.”

Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong said the city remains open to discussions, but wants to ensure financial commitments are secure.

“The city has committed about $4.5 million to that effort,” Wong said. “To start with, their obligation was to come up with the $1.6 million, and they’ve been able to do that, but as we understand it, that $300,000 difference is something they wanted as a forgivable loan, where the city can give them the $300,000 and they would find a way to pay it back over a five-year time frame.”

Ryu says repeated requests to meet with city officials have gone unanswered.

“Look at the mess that we’re in following the collapse of the Fairview Arena more than seven years ago. This space has been unsafe for longer-term occupancy,” he said. “This is a $300,000 problem, five per cent of a $6-million project. Logic would dictate that’s worth having a meeting over.”

Wong disputed that communication has broken down.

“I’ve seen some of the emails that have gone back and forth between administration and the National accessArts Centre, and if you read the last sentence of every email, it says, ‘We’re looking forward to having a conversation with you. Please reach out,’” Wong said.

NaAC continues to operate out of its previous space, attached to the Fairview Arena in southwest Calgary, on a month-to-month lease.

Ryu said the organization has invested $1.7 million in improvements, but the space remains in poor condition.

“We’ve sustained ourselves here for seven years after the collapse,” he said. “We see light at the end of the tunnel, but the city keeps throwing up roadblocks.”

The organization took out a full-page ad in Tuesday’s Calgary Herald, pressing the city to resume negotiations.

The ad points to the hundreds of millions of dollars the city is spending on a new hockey arena, while questioning why it will not accept installment payments to help the NaAC secure a new home.

Wong said the issue is not just the amount of money but ensuring there is no financial risk to taxpayers.

“When you think about the $300,000 gap, that is something small compared to the $4.5 million the city’s offering and the $1.6 million they’re raising,” Wong said. “There is a resolution in there. The question is coming forward and being able to demonstrate to the city that there’s a true financial commitment on the leaseholder’s part to make it happen.”

Ryu said he will keep pushing for a resolution.

“If I need to rent a plane and drop big posters off of it, so be it,” he said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get this city on our side.”