A rendering of the proposed arts venue.

Image Credit: kamloopscentreforthearts.ca

Some activity and excitement is building back up in the performing arts community in Kamloops.

Evan Klassen is the managing director at the Western Canada Theatre and sits on the board of Kamloops Centre of the Arts Society.

He said after almost 20 months of delays and closures, he is seeing a real optimism in the performing arts community as theatre and symphony performances are returning to the stage this month.

“This is an exciting time for the performing arts and there is a lot of enthusiasm rebuilding at the theatre and in the community,” he said.

Evans said he is hoping the energy will keep growing and spark more interest and movement behind the proposed new arts centre.

READ MORE: No one has forgotten about the new Kamloops Performing Arts Centre

Momentum to gather community support and funding for the proposed Performing Arts centre was brought to a halt last year due to COVID.

A referendum to approve the downtown venue was cancelled in April, 2020 due to public health measures.

READ MORE: Kamloops society pushing for $70 million performing arts centre says plans are off 'indefinitely'

“There is currently not a lot of certainty about what the next steps are going forward,” Evans said. “There is ongoing evaluation happening and we are regrouping and reassessing. We are still having meetings, our website is up and we are still open for new members to join us.”

Prior to the pandemic, the society had been at work since last summer to promote the project which could have seen a $70 million, triple theatre facility built in the heart of downtown.

In the meantime, a show called "Trace" is coming to the Sagebrush Theatre Nov. 20 and 21. 

Trace is described as a "highly kinetic contemporary dance work inspired by Indigenous (Anishinaabe) sky and star stories", that offers "a glimpse into our origin as well as our future evolution."

For tickets and more information click here.

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