A partnership between the St. Catharines & Area Arts Council and the St. Catharines Downtown Association has launched a new website. InspireNiagara.com provides updated information on the future arts centre project in downtown St. Catharines. While the project is a partnership initiative between Brock University and the City of St. Catharines, the website was created by the arts and business communities in support.

“We wanted to provide the public with a website devoted to the downtown project,” states Tisha Polocko, general manager of the Downtown Association. “This website allows people to sign up for newsletters, ask burning questions and easily access the information that’s been made public by Brock and the City.”

Over the 2008/09 arts season local arts organizations initiated an advocacy campaign, using an “inspire” logo, to encourage audience members to contact their local politicians in support of a future arts centre. In May, funding was confirmed from the Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario and the City of St. Catharines to move the project ahead.

“We now want to encourage people to get more information about the project,” noted Patti Broughton, executive director of the St. Catharines & Area Arts Council. “The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts and the future Arts Centre will be major economic boosters for our downtown, not just in the construction phase but after it opens, too. Local and touring artists, and arts students, will have a home that inspires new visitors to come downtown. More visitors will mean more and new businesses in the long run.”

In a presentation to City Council, Niagara Centre for the Arts Task Force members Elizabeth Fritshaw and Jennifer Wallace explained their role as catalysts in bringing the arts and business communities together. They promised a newsletter in early 2010 which will go out to everyone who signs up on the website.

The Inspire Campaign encourages community members to imagine a new future for St. Catharines and Niagara. Supporters can download tent cards, window stickers and logos to promote the website to their clients and patrons.