A 60-year-old arts school in B.C.’s Okanagan is scrambling to find a new home after the Penticton school district opted not to renew the lease.
The Okanagan School of the Arts says it’s being booted from the historic Shatford Centre in Penticton, B.C., where it’s rented space for community groups and hosted art, music and theatre classes for the past 10 years.
The school has leased the building from Okanagan Skaha School District 67 for the past decade.
The district has asked the school to clear out by June 30 when the lease ends. Kim Palmer, the school’s executive director, says it faces the “enormous task” of emptying the building within weeks.
The school, she said, is filled with valuable and specialized equipment, including pianos, commercial kitchen appliances and art supplies.
“At the moment, we don’t know where it will go,” she said.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of the school in March, eliminating its rental and programming revenue.
The school leased the century-old building for a dollar a year but was responsible for maintenance, utilities and insurance. When discussing the June lease renewal, the arts school asked the district to cover $80,000 in operating costs and keep the site running for the community.
Palmer said, in response, the district told her the lease would not be renewed and to vacate the building by the end of the month.
She said the province’s emergency order protecting small-business tenants from eviction during the pandemic does not apply to the school, given its yearly $1 lease.
Priority is spending on students, district says
School District 67 chair James Palanio said the district can’t afford to keep the school afloat.
The arts school has spent about $2 million on maintenance over the past 10 years but more is needed and the district can’t afford it, he said.
“We just can’t spend anywhere other than on the kids,” Palanio said on CBC’s Daybreak South.
Palanio said the district is not evicting the arts school. He said it failed to provide insurance information in January when the lease renewal came up. The school only submitted its proposal in late May, he said.
“We have our own deadlines to meet as well,” he said.
The district has no plans to sell the building, Palanio said, and will be eyeing future plans for the site in late fall.
Palmer said the arts school is also looking at other locations.
