The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Flin Flon is a small town used to having big city performing talent. Now the community will have some of the theatrical equipment to match. The Flin Flon Community Choir and Flin Flon Arts Council have secured grant money to purchase professional lighting and sound equipment for the R.H. Channing Auditorium. The sophisticated lighting system, worth some $45,000, is expected to be installed by the end of next week, while officials are waiting to hear back on a federal grant before deciding how to proceed on the sound equipment. When all is said and done, the choir's program director Mark Kolt believes the auditorium will be comparable to the smaller professional theatres in major cities. "It will be Northern Manitoba's best-equipped theatre, without a doubt," he said. Crystal Kolt, Mark's wife and the choir director, is equally thrilled. "It's just an amazing opportunity for the community's future artistic opportunities," said Crystal, who applied for the various grants. A centrepiece of the lighting system will be an intricate operating board with a vast memory for various light settings and sequences. Meanwhile, officials are interested in purchasing a sound system with three components Ð a state-of-the-art sound board, wireless microphones and a set of high-end speakers. The total cost of the sound equipment would be about $80,000, but Mark noted the components could be purchased one at a time. "We'll spend whatever we can get," he said. See 'New' P.# Con't from P.# The Manitoba government this week approved a grant of just under $21,000 for the sound equipment. An application for more than $40,000 has also been put in for a federal cultural grant, but there's been no word as to whether funds are on the way. However, the Feds have been very receptive to the proposal, and Mark and Crystal said they are quite optimistic some money may be forthcoming. Choir productions have for years utilized equipment of a high calibre, but money always had to be found to cover the rental costs. "There's a time when you want to stop renting an apartment and buy your own house," said Mark. The lighting and sound enhancements represent the latest in a series of major upgrades to the R.H. Channing Auditorium, the capital of Flin Flon's arts scene. The augmentations began about eight years ago when the Community Choir and Arts Council purchased risers for on-stage performers, a $10,000 initiative. The Arts Council embarked upon the $100,000 purchase of the raised seating in 2001, with the City of Flin Flon helping out with an interest-free loan covering much of the price tag. Last year, the Arts Council and Community Choir brought in several acoustic shells, a $10,000 cost, to help project singers' voices. The new equipment will be kept within the auditorium and could be moved if the CommunityPlex, which would include a theatre, is built between Flin Flon and Creighton.
