ATCO Performing Arts Centre in need of a new roof

The ATCO Performing Arts Centre is asking for financial help to replace its roof.

A wet spring had staff at the centre scrambling to find anything that could hold water after the roof started leaking in several spots.

Eugene Beaulieu, the facilities committee chair, says those small leaks turned into a flooding situation. They've since been patched but the roof needs to be replaced.

"It's going to cost $600,000 to repair the roof," he said. "We're going to do it right, we're going to put a roof on here that's going to last 50 years so we've applied for a grant of $300,000, but that would be a matching grant so we have to come up with the other $300,000."

Beaulieu says the centre has a rainy-day fund of $80,000 but is looking for donations from alumni and other facility user groups.

"Another $80,000 is going to be raised through crowdfunding through the Alberta government," said Beaulieu.

"They have a fantastic crowdfunding website and we're there so we can get matching funds through that, that's our goal, we think we'll achieve that."

The Youth Singers of Calgary have more than 500 members and have called the ATCO Performing Arts Centre home since 2008.

When the group purchased the building in 2019 they had the roof assessed and the report said it would likely last another decade.

"We fortunately weren't hit hard (in the last big storm that hit Calgary) so we didn't have any major leaks over this,” said Beaulieu.

“But a storm like that could lead to catastrophic kind of conditions here so that is a concern for us."

Kaela Caron is the marketing manager at the centre and says the facility is constantly booked by the singers and other groups.

"The rainstorm that happened this week, if we had camps, it could have severely impacted them,” she said. "We wouldn't have been able to run them or had to find somewhere else."

Beaulieu is hoping to have work start on the new roof in the fall, but that's reliant on the fundraising efforts.

Through the Government of Alberta’s crowdfunding campaign, donations made by Aug. 22 will be matched up to $5,000.

Learn more about the campaign on the province’s crowdfunding website.