A study this fall will determine the viability of turning Flin Flon into a global hub for arts and the environment.
The $90,000 feasibility study will examine the proposed North Central Canada Centre of Arts and Environment (NCCCAE), which has been discussed for the past five years.
“It actually feels very gratifying to have reached this point,” says Crystal Kolt, chairwoman of the NCCCAE executive committee. “It’s such a big dream and we realize that. …We continue to work very hard and we’ll see where this leads us.”
Kolt and her committee have selected BC-based Schick Shiner and Associates to conduct the feasibility study, which she describes as very detailed and complex.
It’s hoped consultants will arrive at the end of October and release their findings by the end of February 2016, or possibly later.
If the results show the NCCCAE is feasible, officials would have a potentially long road ahead of them in securing funding for eventual construction – but that thought is a long ways off.
As Kolt puts it when asked what a positive study would mean: “Then the journey becomes bigger and possibly broader and more challenging, but more exciting as well.”
The NCCCAE would “serve as a hub for knowledge, research and creative exploration,” according to the committee’s stated vision for the project.
The intent would be to leverage the Flin Flon region’s artistic talent and geographical surroundings to cultivate “an international jewel of north central Canada that will contribute to economic growth and sustainability for the region, as well as providing educational opportunities unique to Canada,” notes an NCCCAE news release.
Funding for the feasibility study has come from sources such as area municipalities, Hudbay and the Manitoba government.
Guiding the NCCCAE project is a working committee of about 20 members and a task force of 50-plus members from Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach and Cranberry Portage.
More information on the NCCCAE is available on the project’s website at http://ncccae.ca.
