Feds provide $25M to create cultural hub at city hall in Sudbury

Sudbury gets $25M from feds for cultural hub Greater Sudbury got a big boost from the federal government Wednesday afternoon in retrofits to create a cultural hub at Tom Davies Square.

The City of Greater Sudbury got a big boost from the federal government Wednesday afternoon to help fund retrofits to create a cultural hub at Tom Davies Square.

Local MPs were on hand to announce $25 million from the federal government to help city hall become home to the Art Gallery of Sudbury, a new cultural library and the Sudbury Multicultural Folk Arts Association.

"The investment today is in arts, culture and also in the multicultural aspects of the city," said Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe.

"These are really wise investments. We know that when we can invest in arts and culture, we bring festivals, we bring cultural events which then fill up our hotels our restaurants. It’s really good for businesses."

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City officials said the cultural hub will be a community space with a variety of cultural and educational services in one convenient centralized location.

"This does not exist right now," said Mayor Paul Lefebvre.

"And it’s about maximizing the resources that we have, maximizing a building that we already have and best use of it with least taxpayer dollars that we can. We have taken a $100 million project and reduced (it) to a $40 million project. That is what we have done in the last 18 months."

The mayor said city staff offices will be moved to vacant parts of the provincial building, which is attached to city hall and the already city owns.