The Steinbach Arts Council says a new arts centre and performing arts centre remain its top priorities. The arts council was invited to make a presentation to city council as it met in committee Tuesday evening. Audrey Hill, vice-chair of the Arts Council, took the opportunity to outline several key points. She notes the Arts Centre is used by about 1,000 people per week and is a big part of the city's recreation opportunities for residents. Hill says it is important that city council develop an arts policy so that there is a framework to accommodate new ideas that come forward, with a way to make them become reality. She adds the arts council needs a properly completed lease for the city-owned building that houses the arts centre. Hill also says they have largely outgrown their current facilities and new ones are very much needed.

Audrey Hill (Photo credit: Steinbach Arts Council)"We continue to hope for the future for a cultural arts facility where we can continue to grow our programming and where we can have an entertainment facility for the high quality performances that Steinbach has come to enjoy."

Hill says it is hard to make plans for the future, knowing there is no space to accommodate new programming.

"We sometimes feel we are at a cusp. We've developed to a certain point and we feel very proud of what we've done. But if we want to develop further and we want to meet the greater needs that we see, we need to take a giant step forward and that means working with this council to come up with some new facility."

City council did not respond to that point during the meeting. But later, in an interview, Mayor Earl Funk noted that while city council strongly supports the work of the Arts Council, there is no money right now for new facilities.

"We are open to listening, we're open to talking, but at this point, I think we're just going to have to put it on the backburner for now. We all feel very positively towards them, but at this time, we cannot afford to do it. I think our focus is more in development at this point and bringing jobs to our community."