HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-07-05, Page 28Continued from page 1also a finalist for the same award.The latter helped provide what
may be Coates’s longest-term
contribution to the Festival. It was so
popular, selling out in the 2008
season and being remounted in
2009, that the Festival was finally
able to write off a quarter-million
dollar deficit that has been
hampering its operation since the
early 1990s.
His association with the Festival
began in 1995, when he was cast in
Chislett’s The Tomorrow Box.
“I remember that I was at a very
low point in my career as an actor
before I landed an audition with the
Blyth Festival,” says Coates. “I went
to Janet Amos’s house in Toronto
and auditioned for director Kate
Trotter in Janet’s living room.” He also appeared in Jake’s Placeand He Won’t Come in From theBarnduring that first summer
and returned the following year
as a member of the collective
ensemble that created Barndance,
Live!
“That was a turning point in my
life and in my career,” he said. “I
grew creatively, finally feeling
completely at ease within the world
of a play. It was a magical time and
Paul (Thompson) was having a
wonderful time at the helm.”
He continued to work with
director Thompson on subsequent
collectives, notably The Outdoor
Donnellys, which the Festival
produced for three blockbuster
seasons.
Chislett, who had produced those
shows after becoming artisticdirector in 1996, asked Coates toconsider applying for an OntarioArts Council mentorship grant
and he accepted. He worked as
Chislett’s associate throughout her
tenure and was offered the job
of artistic director in September
2002.
Coates said he is extremely proud
of the Festival’s new play
development record during his time
in the job: with 12 of the scripts
accepted by publishers and Ciufo’s
and Cooper’s nominations for the
Governor General’s Award.
“I will always consider Paul’s
[Ciufo’s] nomination as the
highlight of my time in Blyth. The
emotion in his voice on the phone as
he told me the news will stay with
me forever.”
Coates’s final assignment asartistic director is to direct the worldpremiere of The Devil We Know,opening August 3.
In taking over GCTC, Coates will
lead a company strikingly similar to
the Blyth Festival, though an urban
model. Its mandate is “to foster,
produce and promote excellent
theatre that provokes examination of
Canadian life and Canadians’ place
in the world.”
The company was even founded in
1975, the same year as the Festival,
by a group of professors and
graduate students at Carleton
University.
A winter-season company, GCTC
attracted 30,000 people last year. In
2007 it moved into The Irving
Greenberg Theatre Centre, which
includes a 262-seat mainstage
theatre, a flexible black box studio
theatre
Wendy Hoernig, president of the
Blyth Centre for the Arts, parent of
the Festival, said that the board had
known Coates’s leaving was
inevitable sooner or later but hadhoped it would be later.“He’s been such a treasure for theBlyth Festival. He’s going to be
badly missed.”
Still, she said, the board was
delighted this opportunity had come
up for Coates to further his career.
GCTC will be a good match not only
artistically, but will give him an
opportunity to enjoy some of his
recreational joys such as cross
country skiing and canoeing, she
said.
Hoernig said Coates had left the
Festival in good shape for a
successor. The board was to meet
this week to consider how to
proceed.
Coates, who is also president of
the Professional Association of
Canadian Theatres, praised the role
the Festival had played in his life. “I
will be forever grateful to the
Blyth Festival and all of the
wonderful artists, volunteers, staff
members and friends who make it
happen.”
School’s out for summer
The end of the school year was punctuated by a pool party
in Brussels, as the Lions welcomed the students to their
community pool on Friday, the first day of the students’
summer vacation. Cooling off in the water are, from left, Joel
Nesbit, Tommy Warner, John Nesbit, Jaime Newell, Ted
Jacklin and Myles Johnston. (Denny Scott photo)
PAGE 28. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2012.Coates to finish season before move to Ottawa
‘Solution’ needed after meeting
10th place
finish for
Schimanski
Ami Schimanski of Brussels
finished in 10th place at the
Canadian Track and Field Trials in
Calgary last weekend.
Schimanski’s three efforts in the
final round of the women’s hammer
throw on Saturday came in at 50.61
metres, 51.75 metres and 53.34
metres, which was good enough for
10th out of 13 competitors. Winning
the event was Heather Steacy with a
best throw of 70.48 metres.
Schimanski came up big on
Thursday in the women’s qualifying
event, finishing in first place. Her
throw of 53.36 metres, after fouling
on two of her three throws, was best
out of the five competitors that had
to qualify.
Schimanski qualified for the event
earlier this year in a provincial
competition.
Continued from page 25
the area were considered compliant.
“On June 8 we asked the question
and Huron East, Brussels and
Howick are all compliant,” Gowing
said. “North Huron has a higher
level department which costs more.”
He said that while his council had
taken a lot of flack for questioning
the agreement, there were issues that
needed to be resolved and questions
that need to be answered.
“I don’t believe I’m doing my job
as the mayor of Morris-Turnberry if
these questions are raised and not
answered in the agreement with
North Huron,” he said.
Gowing made several requests
regarding reworking the budget to
reduce the amount that Morris-
Turnberry pays. He suggested the
following changes:
• Breaking down the budget and
removing aspects of the fire
protection services from Morris-
Turnberry’s cost like fire prevention
services instead of reducing their
percentage cost from 34 per cent to
31.5 per cent.
• Removing the capital costs from
the amount shared by municipalities
paying for fire protection services
since they do not own a share of the
capital items.
• Removing any costs of the
Emergency Services Training
Centre in Blyth from the FDNH
budget if they exist.
Morris-Turnberry’s presentation
indicated that, of the 2012 operating
budget of $656,279, they should
only be paying $131,383.04 instead
of $217,5212 after removing the
reserve, the fire prevention costs and
wages and Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh’s levy. This would cause
a savings of $86,139.
Another concern for Morris-
Turnberry is the cost of fire calls
which, according to Morris-
Turnberry staff calculations, was
$5,096.81, much higher than
Lucknow and Huron East/Brussels
at $1782.47 and $2923.18
respectively and slightly higher than
Central Huron at $ 4,358.54.
Morris-Turnberry was also
curious as to why the percentage
cost sharing from previous fire
board agreements was used to
determine cost instead of
assessment, why uniform-
replacement costs were estimated at
$30,000 per year and whether the
fire budget was prepared before or
after the fire service was
established.
Morris-Turnberry listed several
concerns and questions near the end
of their presentation including the
fact that the current budget, less the
reserves for capital, actually has
Morris-Turnberry paying 41 per
cent of the operation, which they felt
was unfair due to lack of ownership.
He said his council was concerned
about the fact that the FDNH fire
chief has the right to, in case of an
emergency, refuse to supply
response to Morris-Turnberry if
there is a call in North Huron.
Gowing asked several questions,
including asking whether North
Huron Council has a desire to work
with Morris-Turnberry and if the
vision of North Huron Council is
sustainable for the fire service.
Gowing proposed, to end his
presentation that North Huron work
with Morris-Turnberry in one of two
ways:
1. “Establish a joint fire service
with shared ownership.”
2. Create “a long term agreement
with no indexing and deduct the
following from the budget to be
shared with municipalities receiving
fire suppression: reserves, capital,
fire prevention and education costs
and the cost sharing be based on
assessment.”
Vincent followed up by reminding
ratepayers that their concerns should
be addressed to their local councils.
“This is an ongoing discussion
and we thank you for your interest
and being here,” he said. “There are
a number of questions each council
is looking at and if you have any
other questions, direct your
questions to your councillors.”
“We need to find a suitable
solution,” Gowing said.
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