Yellowknife’s old swimming pool should be turned into a public library with a new performing arts centre attached, a group of residents says.
A working group is proposing a $26-million conversion of the Ruth Inch Memorial Pool building – now superseded by the neighbouring aquatic centre.
The vision includes relocating the city’s library into an expanded version of the Ruth Inch building that would also accommodate two performance spaces and a series of rehearsal rooms.
The working group says a lack of rehearsal space is a big concern in Yellowknife. “This simple problem has a crippling effect on our music scene,” the group states in a proposal document.
The group, named the Yellowknife Centre for the Performing Arts Working Group, has Jeremy Flatt as its acting chair according to documents sent to Cabin Radio this week. Other members include composer Carmen Braden, NWT Black Advocacy Coalition president Ambe Chenemu and Folk on the Rocks artistic director Carly McFadden.
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A public meeting about the proposal will be held by the group at the aquatic centre on Wednesday, April 1 from 7:30-9pm.
Multiple potential uses for the old pool have already been proposed, including turning it into a skate park. So far, the city hasn’t committed to any option.
Funding would need to be found for any development to go ahead.
The Yellowknife Centre for the Performing Arts Working Group says a new facility is needed because existing performing arts spaces, like local bars and the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, don’t meet all needs.
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NACC, for example, is “designed to host stage plays or performances by professional musicians offering lengthy recitals of highly polished music,” the group states in its proposal.
“It is not well suited to very energetic music, intimate performances, interactive or immersive theatre, workshops, or for emerging performers to perform unsupported.”
The project also differs from a separately proposed NWT Art Centre Initiative as the art centre is “exclusively focused on non-commercial visual arts and is targeting specific security and conservation standards for their facility that would make collaborations with the performing arts impractical,” the working group states.
The group believes it can find funding and move toward construction by the summer of 2027 with the city’s support. (City council has yet to express an opinion.)
The earliest opening date would be the winter of 2028, the group says.
