Confederation Centre renovation on schedule, on budget with big changes coming, CEO says

Renovations at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in downtown Charlottetown are well underway, and the centre’s CEO says the work is on schedule and on budget.

Steve Bellamy said the revamped facility will offer something for everyone by this time next year.

“It feels incredible for it to be on time, on budget,” Bellamy told CBC News. “We have a year left to go, but honestly, it's moving along as well as we could have hoped.”

The major renovation is taking place in the former library space. The library closed in 2022 after 57 years and moved into a 40,000-square-foot space in the Dominion Building, across Queen Street from the Confederation Centre.

Bellamy said the reason the project remains on track is because so much of the work is being done by local companies and tradespeople.

He added that when visitors walk through the new space next year, one major change they will notice is the entire floor has been lowered to the level of Richmond Street.

“We really anticipate a strong connection to Victoria Row and have the centre be a beautiful thoroughfare for people.”

Bellamy said staff talked to the public and stakeholders, including Indigenous communities, about how the space should be used. Three clear themes came out of those conversations, he said.

The first was that the centre’s learning programs could expand, become more inclusive and serve more communities.

“We're going to have what we call an arts academy, which is an expansion of our learning programs.”

The second message from the public was that the centre should offer more programming tied to its role as a “national memorial to its founders.”

“We're starting a Canadian Leadership Institute to do more gathering and convening, to talk about important issues in Canada like the Symons Medal, the Charlottetown Forum, and to grow that line of programming in the leadership institute,” he said.

The third message was that the centre could play a stronger role in creating new Canadian content.

“We're excited to announce the Arts Innovation Hub, and that's really the name we're putting on some new facilities that will help in that endeavour," Bellamy said.