Neither the City of Maple Ridge nor Arts On Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows know what is going to happen to a Capital Improvement Fund being collected at The ACT Arts Centre.
Every time somebody purchases a ticket to a show at The ACT, patrons of the main arts centre in the city contribute to the fund that is meant for the upkeep of the facility.
However, with the City of Maple Ridge taking over the facility in January, it is not clear how much is in the fund and if the fund is going to be transferred to the city or stay with Arts On Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows.
The Capital Improvement Fund was established by the Arts Council Board of Directors in 2002 to support the council’s capital assets, operational equipment, maintenance, and emergency repairs, explained Curtis Pendleton, now the executive director of Arts On Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows.
It is currently a $2 fee that is tagged onto the ticket price for shows at The ACT.
Pendleton said the Capital Improvement Fund, CIF, was one of the many complicated questions that the “abrupt termination of our operational agreements has brought up.”
“With the very short runway we have been given by the city to vacate The ACT , and no advance discussion of this and other issues with the city, the Arts Council is actively looking into this and other matters with accounting and legal advice. We do not yet have a definitive answer on how the CIF must be administered at this point, but will address this once the transition of the Arts Council away from The ACT takes place,” said Pendleton.
The city will be taking over programming at The ACT Arts Centre on Jan. 1, after about a year and a half of failed discussions with the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Arts Council on an operating agreement moving forward. The arts council had run the facility for the past 22 years.
In November, the arts council announced a rebrand, renaming itself Arts On Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, with a new logo, new colours, and a redesigned website.
Pendleton explained, at the time, Arts On would have a reduced, but more focused scope of programming for learning activities, community events and performances, at multiple venues and partnerships throughout Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, as the group moves forward.
City of Maple Ridge Mayor Dan Ruimy said that in the September transition notice to the arts council, the city requested a current statement of all funds held by the council related to The ACT Arts Centre’s operations and equipment, including the Capital Improvement Fund, and asked that the funds be transferred to the city “for their intended purpose.”
“We are currently waiting for a response,” said Ruimy.