Raise the roof
Green Thumb Theatre is throwing a fundraiser for its Schoolhouse Campus at Carleton elementary Oct. 14. The event at the ANZA Club will include games, music, beer and raffles, and prizes include car2go minutes, Barre Fitness passes and restaurant gift certificates.
The award-winning theatre company that creates shows about social issues for children and youth is raising money to repair, renovate and restore Carleton Hall on Kingsway near Joyce. It's Vancouver's oldest remaining schoolhouse and was targeted by an arsonist in 2008. Green Thumb wants to create two new production halls and move its administration offices to the hall's nearby annex.
Raise the Roof! kicks off at 8 p.m. at 3 West Eighth Ave. Tickets are $8 in advance (includes a drink ticket) and $10 at the door. For tickets, phone 604-254-4055 or email [email protected].
Saving Sexsmith
The school board is hosting an Oct. 10 open house about the future of current buildings at Sexsmith elementary.
A new Sexsmith is being built across the field from the old school buildings on Ontario Street at West 59th Avenue. The school board is seeking proposals for new uses for the heritage buildings and wants to find someone to preferably lease and upgrade them. A 2007 school board study estimated it would cost $13.2 million to seismically upgrade Sexsmith's buildings to school standards and to retain exterior heritage character.
The board received only one response, which it rejected, to its call for proposals this past spring. That request asked for proposals for civic, cultural, community or education uses that excluded kindergarten to Grade 12 independent/private schools. The board is considering issuing a second call for proposals that would broaden the range of potential uses to include office and/or residential use.
When the Courier asked board chair Patti Bacchus about the possibility of a conversion to condos, she mentioned receiving emails recommending she check out a school that had been converted into a pub in Portland. "I'm not sure we'd want to put a pub in that neighbourhood," she said.
According to the website for the Kennedy School in Portland, officials closed that elementary school in 1975 because it faced declining enrolment and they considered the 1915 building too crumbling to repair. But neighbours, alumni and the Portland Development Commission banded together and saved the structure. It reopened in 1997 and while located in a residential area is now home to a hotel, multiple small bars, a restaurant with a patio, movie theatre, soaking pool and a brewery. Other proposals reportedly ranged from a retirement home to an indoor soccer facility.
Youth parliament
The British Columbia Youth Parliament is looking for 95 B.C. residents aged 16 to 21 to visit Victoria this Christmas, debate service projects to benefit youth and put those plans into place in 2013. It wants community and youth leaders to nominate participants. The application deadline is Oct. 23. For more information, see bcyp.org.
[email protected] Twitter: @Cheryl_Rossi
