Confederation Centre gets $47M to renovate former library space

The former library inside Charlottetown's Confederation Centre of the Arts will soon be used for something new thanks to provincial and federal funding announced Wednesday.

The library closed in 2022 after 57 years and moved into a 40,000 square foot space in the Dominion Building, across from the Confederation Centre on Queen Street.  

The Confederation Centre held public consultations over the last few years on the future of the space, and the public got its first glimpse of what it will become on Wednesday.  

The funding will be used to create the National Cultural Leadership Institute, with P.E.I. Premier Dennis King committing $20 million in provincial money to the project. 

"It's not just about remaking and reshaping and remodelling the building itself, but what it does as an anchor for Charlottetown," King said.

The federal government is also committing $25 million through Infrastructure Canada's Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program.

It's also received an additional $2.4 million through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency's (ACOA) Innovative Communities Fund.

Confederation Centre CEO Steve Bellamy has also spent a lot of time thinking about what it could look like.

"It's important that these buildings are maintained and renovated and rejuvenated to serve everybody," Bellamy said.

The design work is being done by Abbott Brown Architects, and the centre itself will need to raise an additional $16.5 million in donations to round out the $65 million needed for the project.

The centre gets over a quarter-million visitors each year, and Bellamy said the funding will also have an impact on the wider community. 

"Those investments literally flow through it into the economy, into the community," he said. "So the cultural benefits are enormous, but the economic benefits are enormous for a place like this."

The money will be earmarked for green renovations, like upgrading heating and air conditioning, replacing windows and adding solar panels. All this should reduce the centre's energy consumption by nearly 70 per cent, and greenhouse gas emissions by 286 tonnes each year.

Inside, the space will become three things: an arts academy, an arts innovation hub, and a cultural learning space for discussion around reconciliation and the country's growth.