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Council comes to the aid of MY Place

Council has answered an urgent financial plea from Maurice Young Millennium Place with a $150,000 cheque to help with current cash-flow problems. "We need the help," said Rob Schwartz, general manager of Millennium Place.

Council has answered an urgent financial plea from Maurice Young Millennium Place with a $150,000 cheque to help with current cash-flow problems.

"We need the help," said Rob Schwartz, general manager of Millennium Place.

"There’s no doubt about that."

The money will be come in two forms. The municipality will give the centre a $50,000 grant in aid. That money will cover operating shortfalls from the past year and will also be used for deposits for performances in the coming year.

A further $100,000 will be given to MY Place in the form of a loan, to be paid back over the next 12 months.

The loan will be used for some of the cash flow problems the centre is currently experiencing and cover unforeseen expenses.

This is the first time MY Place, which melds churches, community facilities and theatre performances into one venue, has asked for financial help from the municipality for operating costs. The municipality guaranteed a $3.5 million short-term mortgage and provided an emergency loan to cover construction costs.

MY Place costs roughly half a million dollars to run every year. Officials thought that money could be raised through revenues from productions as well as fundraising and various grants.

"We’ve never gone to the municipality before because we wanted to do it on our own," said Schwartz.

"That just may not be realistic in that there are, to my understanding, no theatres out there or very, very few performance venues that don’t have government support."

Officials at MY Place scrambled to get help from the municipality after a large grant from the B.C. Lottery and Gaming Commission failed to materialize this summer.

That $120,000 grant fell through because of the organizational structure of MY Place. The board is reviewing this structure now and will be resubmitting their grant application to the Commission in the future.

Stephen Milstein, chair of the Millennium Place board, added that there is a further $120,000 worth of grant applications ready to go out at the moment.

"Council has been good enough to say, ‘look, let’s not operate on the edge anymore,’" he said.

"They know we’re fundraising. They know we have grant applications out there. And they’re saying ‘let’s cover that.’"

Very little money was raised this year through fundraising efforts, said Milstein.

"The fundraising economy in the last year – and we know what happened with the library and what’s happened with the economy – has been awful," he said.

"We also know what the resort has been like in the last four months, so the revenues from users (in that time period) has been way, way, way, way down."

Revenues over the course of the 2002/03 season were $295,000, which is an increase of 35 per cent from the year before. But operating expenses for the same season also went up to $535,000.

That $236,000 deficit will be covered through an agreement with the Skiers Chapel Society. The money from the municipality will cover the current operating expenses.

Schwartz expects things to turn around next year.

"We’re definitely increasing our revenues," he said.

"We’re definitely decreasing our expenses."

The 2003/04 budget projects a deficit of $61,000 as more grants and sponsors come on board. MY Place will also have a charitable status number in the coming months and that will make a difference in the grant application process.

Schwartz also said they are making big strides in lowering operating costs. He points to the cuts in payroll with increased operations hours as well as significant reductions in printing costs.

MY Place has faced the same fundraising challenges that the library/museum had this year. Those challenges eventually forced the library/museum capital campaign to suspend their fundraising efforts for the time being.

Schwarz is hopeful that a better economic climate in the coming years will produce greater results.

"Fundraising will always be a part of Millennium Place just like it’s always going to be a part of the museum or the library or any other community venture," he said.

At Monday’s council meeting all council members voted in favour of transferring the money to MY Place to help out with the operating expenses this year.

"It’s only in our best interest to see them succeed and continue to be successful," said Mayor Hugh O’Reilly.

"In our mind it’s a pretty small contribution for a very significant community element.

"It’s the first real significant cultural facility in Whistler so it’s breaking trail for anything that should ever follow behind it. It’s got the hardest road to follow. Having said that we think they’ve done very well."

Council also passed a resolution that will see municipal staff work with the Maurice Young Millennium Place Society to figure out the future role of the municipality within the facility.

"I think they have a gem here," said Schwartz.

"Whistler never had Peruvian throat singers or a 14-piece Cuban band.

"I’m happy that (the municipality) want(s) to be a part of this."

He is also very thankful for the money and the support.

MY Place has been operational for two years. It cost over $7 million to build. The bulk of that money was raised through fundraising efforts.

The centre was designed to "challenge, engage, stimulate (the) community to explore (its) imagination and to develop (its) creativity, spiritual and intellectual awareness."