West End relaunches following renos

But will smaller venues take a hit?

The new WECC will be open May 25. Mark Reimer
Smaller venues, like the Lo Pub pictured above, shouldn’t see much of a drop in business when the WECC reopens thanks to different, yet complimentary, target audiences. Mark Reimer

In the wake of its recent $4 million facelift, the West End Cultural Centre is set to relaunch May 25. But although many a Winnipegger is thrilled to have the iconic music venue open once again, one has to wonder what will happen to the smaller venues that picked up the slack while the WECC’s renos dragged on.

Originally a church, the mostly music venue became an outpost for artistic articulation early on in its 20-year history. The West End has become a welcome alternative to the high priced arena fair available at behemoth venues like the MTS center.

The renovations came as a necessity, explains general manager Meg McGimpsy.

“The west wall was collapsing so we needed to re-build,” she said.

Now the venue boasts a larger hall that can accommodate a variety of setups with an estimated capacity of 400 people, an increase of about 100. There is also a smaller, community hall with a capacity of about 80 people, complete with a removable stage to make room for things like dance workshops.

Renovations on the WECC began last June and lasted three months longer than originally anticipated.

Now that the WECC is ready to once again open its doors, there is the question of what will happen to the smaller venues that have been filling the hole in the local music community. Will they suffer diminished patronage now that the iconic WECC is back in business?

Places like The Park Theatre and Lo Pub have carved out niches within the larger community, and each offers a signature ambience of its own.

While the West End commissioned out of venue shows during construction, McGimpsy said this is a common practice that has always occurred and therefore won’t necessarily adversely affect on the cozier locales now that the WECC has re-opened.

The Park Theatre on Osborne Street, which can accommodate about 225 people, might seem to be in direct competition with the WECC, but the venues’ dissimilar capacities and focuses ensure they fill different, yet compatible, needs within the Winnipeg community.

“I am happy for the re-launch of the WECC,” said The Park Theatre’s owner Eric Casselman. He points to the variances between the two venues.

“I honestly think [they] only complement each other. The music artists are the true winners in this.”

Casselman also speaks to the validation for a small venue when the WECC gives it their “stamp of approval” by booking a show at a place like The Park.

Different price points also vary the audiences that smaller venues cater to.

While it’s not uncommon to pay $20 to $30 for a show at WECC, you’ll rarely pay more than $5 to catch a local act at Lo Pub and Gallery at the corner of Ellice Avenue and Kennedy Streets in the HI Winnipeg Downtowner hostel. A venue such as this is decidedly more intimate than a hall filled with hundreds of fellow congregates, and while it may attract a similar crowd, it offers a markedly different experience.

Likewise The Park, a brightly lit converted movie theatre/coffee house that showcases everything from old films to musical theatre and comedy, emits its own unique vibration as people hurry in and out renting DVDs and ordering cappuccinos.
The various venues throughout the city seem built upon the camaraderie of diversity, rather than fierce competition.

This is something the WECC’s McGimpsy believes the renovated building continues to exude.

“People who have done walk throughs have commented that [the new West End] keeps the feel of what [the old] West End was.”

One example of this is the fact that in the new hall, which was built on the back of the existing building, the wall was pressure washed to fully expose the brick that was once an exterior feature.

The buckling of the wall that originally forced the renos also remains as an aesthetic reminder, McGimpsy said.

Published in Volume 63, Number 27 of The Uniter (May 20, 2009)

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