The Coast: Halifax is one step closer to a reopened Khyber building

The federal government gives $200,000 towards the Turret Arts Society's vision for an accessible, downtown cultural hub.

“I think at some point, I thought that I was running a marathon. And then I realized that it was an Ironman,” Emily Davidson,​ president of the Turret Arts Space Society says. After almost a decade of working to preserve Halifax’s original Khyber building (the gothic-looking manse at 1588 Barrington Street that’s been closed since 2014—not to be confused with The Khyber Centre For The Arts, an artist-run centre based on 1880 Hollis Street), she says it feels “like the swimming and the biking still have to happen.”

. . .

Between this funding news for the Turret Arts Society and the city’s recent decision to ditch a proposed 55 percent cut to arts funding (with councillors instead deciding to fund $125,000 in annually recurring grants to the sector); looking at the success of recently opened culture hubs in the city like the 2482 Maynard Project (home to The Blue Building Gallery, Wonder’neath Art Society and Eyelevel Artist Run Centre) and the Light House Arts Centre (a Swiss army knife of a space that hosts live concerts and provides a filming set for This Hour Has 22 Minutes); the optimists in Halifax might just say the tide is turning for the arts—or at least, the city’s cultural sector has been given a floatation device to stave off drowning.

I ask Davidson if this sunny read on things is too much. She pauses. “I think it's a moment to feel hopeful and to keep up the pressure,” she says. Planning an arts hub that’s physically, culturally and financially accessible—which is the aim of the Turret— ”is such a hopeful proposition. And it's really exciting to see that matched with support for this phase of our project, and to see that hope also reflected in the arts community broadly, in moments like for coming together to not just oppose cuts, but to change the conversation from arts funding cuts at the city to arts funding improvements. I think that there's just so, so much value in our collective action and and and in a hope for a vibrant artistic future.”