Province announces exhibition centre, new student residences for Sir Wilfred Grenfell College

Premier Brian Tobin, Finance Minister Paul Dicks and Tourism, Culture and Recreation Minister Charles Furey today announced the province would contribute $7 million towards the construction of an exhibition centre and new student residences for the Sir Wilfred Grenfell College campus of Memorial University.

Construction of the new exhibition centre will cost an estimated $4 million. The design phase of the project will take until fall 2000 to complete, with construction expected to begin late in 2000. The exhibition centre is expected to be completed by winter 2001-2002.

The new student residences will cost $7.5 million to construct. The province is contributing $3 million toward that total cost, with Memorial University contributing the remainder through bank financing and revenues it expects to derive from rental of the residence rooms.

Three clusters of four residence buildings each will be constructed representing a total of 300 beds. Anticipated completion date for the project is winter 2001-2002.

"The exhibition centre will be a showplace for our cultural history on the west coast of the province and will be an integral part of the operation of other key cultural institutions, specifically the Newfoundland Museum, the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador," said Premier Tobin.

"The new exhibition centre will also provide additional exhibition, studio and workshop space that will complement and enhance existing Fine Arts facilities at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, and will also serve the region's needs for exhibitions, cultural development and tourism growth."

"In addition, the expansion of current residence capacity will meet the needs of the student population at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College and respond to Memorial University's long-range goal of recruiting even more students to the college in Corner Brook," added the premier.

"Today's investment in the infrastructure of Sir Wilfred Grenfell College is indicative of government's ongoing commitment to improving and enhancing post-secondary education in Newfoundland and Labrador," said Minister Dicks. "This new exhibition centre and additional residence facilities are necessary if the college is to continue to grow and contribute to the economy and overall quality of life in Corner Brook and, indeed, the entire western region of the province."

"The new exhibition centre at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College will complement the provincial art gallery, museum and archives government announced on Monday, December 13, in St. John's," said Minister Furey. "While the facility will be owned and operated by Memorial University, it will be linked to the province's key cultural facilities in a very real way. We expect exhibits and artifacts will be shared so that our historic and cultural wealth can be enjoyed by even more residents of Newfoundland and Labrador."

"This new exhibition centre at the college will be an important addition to the region's tourism infrastructure and, I believe, will generate significant economic benefits not only for Corner Brook but for surrounding communities," concluded Minister Furey.

"Both facilities will greatly enhance Sir Wilfred Grenfell College and its ability to contribute to the province," said Dr. Axel Meisen, president of Memorial University. "The exhibition centre, in addition to being a tremendous addition to the cultural facilities in western Newfoundland, will be a great asset to the academic and outreach fine arts programs offered by Grenfell College."

"The new residences will expand our student housing capacity from 190 to 490 places," Dr. Meisen added. "As a result, the college will be in a much stronger position to attract students from outside the Corner Brook region who seek to study at a smaller residential university. In the summer months, visitors to the region can also use the residences. We are particularly focusing in on visitors who participate in art classes, conferences and special events related to the college."

Media contact:

Heidi Bonnell
Office of the Premier
(709) 729-3564

Mary MacNab
Director of Communications
Tourism, Culture and Recreation
(709) 729-0928

Victoria Collins
University Relations Memorial University
(709) 737-8662

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BACKGROUNDER

New Exhibition Centre at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College

THE CONCEPT
The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Memorial University of Newfoundland are collaborating on the creation of a new exhibition centre to showcase the province's artistic, material and archival treasures.

This $4 million state-of-the-art facility will be approximately 15,000 square feet in size and will include environmentally controlled exhibition and storage spaces, a workshop, studio space for visiting artists, and a high quality multi-media lecture theatre. The main purpose of the centre will be to showcase works of art, museum exhibits and archival exhibits.

The building will be located on the campus of Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook, home of Memorial University's fine arts degree programs.

OUTREACH
This initiative will provide an outlet in western Newfoundland for the province's three heritage institutions, the Newfoundland Museum, the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador. This will allow the province's cultural heritage treasures to be accessible to residents of the region, as well as to visitors.

PARTNERSHIPS
In addition to representing the three provincial institutions in St. John's, the Corner Brook centre will complement the Southern Newfoundland Seamen's Museum in Grand Bank, the Mary March Regional Museum in Grand Falls-Windsor and the Labrador Interpretation Centre in North West River. The Corner Brook facility will be operated by Memorial University, but will be an integral partner with the operations of these provincial institutions.

The exhibition centre will support Memorial's fine arts and community education programming. It will provide fine arts students with enhanced opportunities for exposure to the work of professional artists and enable the college to expand its community outreach programming in the arts.

A cultural facility dedicated to the exhibition of museum artifacts and archival documents, to the creation and exhibition of art works, and to outreach programming in the arts will be a significant tourism attraction and educational development for Corner Brook and surrounding areas. It will complement existing cultural attractions such as the Corner Brook Museum and Archives, the Arts and Culture Centre and the many commercial art galleries, as well as the numerous festivals and community museums on the West Coast of Newfoundland.

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BACKGROUNDER

New Residences at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College

Sir Wilfred Grenfell College was established in 1975 as a two-year university college with a mandate to provide up to two years of credits towards an academic degree from Memorial University. The college was initially designed to serve the post-secondary academic needs of the population of the western region of the province, with a view to attracting an enrolment of 500-600 students. To accommodate the significant number of those students from outside the City of Corner Brook, a student residence wing to house nearly 200 students in a dormitory-type setting was constructed attached to the original campus building.

Since 1975 the focus of the college has shifted and its academic facilities expanded so that it now offers full four-year undergraduate degree programs in 10 program areas and has a student enrolment of 1,200.

The new residences are essential to Grenfell's development as a residential liberal arts and science institution. In the next two to three years, the college aims to expand the student population to 1,500, and eventually to 1,800. Currently, Grenfell can accommodate only half of the students who apply for its 188 residence rooms. The new residences, providing 300 additional beds, will meet the demand from current students and the anticipated demand from new students recruited by the college.

The design of the new residences will blend with the natural setting of the campus and complement the architectural design of the campus' existing buildings. As an alternative to the traditional dormitory arrangement, apartment-style units will be built, with one-, two- and three-bedroom arrangements per unit. This type of residence will appeal to the growing population of mature students, as well as to students preferring non-dormitory living arrangements and those with families.

When the residences are not fully occupied, primarily during the summer months, they will be available as visitor accommodations, enhancing the city's ability to host large conventions, trade shows and other events. The residences will almost double the number of accommodations currently available in the Corner Brook area in the peak summer tourism period, thus contributing to the economic development of the city and region.

The total cost of the project is $7.5 million. With the $3 million contribution from the provincial government, the university will borrow $4.5 million to undertake the construction. Following the business plan developed for the residences, the loan will be repaid through income generated from the rental of the accommodations to students and visitors.

1999 12 14               11:15 a.m.