Representatives of the school district and city met with members of New Westminster's arts community Tuesday night to discuss the undetermined future of the aging Massey Theatre.

Around 50 people attended the meeting at Centennial Community Centre to discuss the proposal for a new performing arts centre to replace the aging Massey Theatre with a theatre in a newly constructed New Westminster Secondary School, one of three new schools scheduled to be built in the next few years.

"Ground isn't being broken tomorrow, which is a good thing," said Greg Magirescu, the city's manager of arts and cultural development and the self-described "link to city hall" for the Royal City's artistic community. "We want you to think of this as us and us, not us and them."

The sentiment wasn't entirely embraced by many of those in attendance, who expressed doubt about the city's financial commitment to replacing the Massey. Judging by the loud applause that greeted a question asking about the actual necessity of knocking down the 60-year-old landmark in the first place - which city adminstrator Paul Damatino says suffers from "serious seismic issues" and would cost a bare minimum of $8 to $10 million dollars just to upgrade to code - many are strongly opposed to the idea and are unconvinced a proposed new theatre with a capacity of 1,000 seats can replace the Massey or adequately fill the needs of New Westminster's artistic community. Many arts groups would also face difficulty surviving the three years it will take to build.

"I think one of the biggest issues is trust," said Coun. Bill Harper the following day. "People will have to take an actual look at the commitments and actions the school board and council have taken."

Harper said the current city council is firmly committed to helping the city's art scene flourish - pointing to the creation of a comprehensive arts strategy, the upcoming new civic centre, the pier park project, the stage at Hyack Square, community festivals and the recent hiring of Magirescu as examples - and saying council wants to meet further to ensure performing arts groups will find adequate facilities to use during the possible construction phase.

"I don't know where the trust issue really lies with this council. We really have committed ourselves to making advances in the arts, we see it as a fundamental part of the progression of the city."

Jessica Schneider, executive director of the Massey Theatre, said her main concern is that the project will end up costing more than planned and that the proposed replacement theatre could be substandard. "The problem is not with the plan, the problem is with the assumption that the province will put up most of the cash," she said. "The province does't have an unlimited budget to put up two-thirds of the cash. So if you don't know the cost of the project, how can you know who is paying what? If the city pulls out because the costs are no longer worthwhile to them, then we end up with a 650-seat theatre."

Harper admitted that the arts community has some reason for a degree of skepticism because of decisions made by previous city councils. "There have been a number of promises made over the years - for a new arts centre for instance (this is before my time as a councillor), one that was going to be in the CIBC centre and another about the high school that would have this 'centre of achievement' with an arts centre - and that all sort of collapsed for a number of reasons, most of which were valid."

"I think people have difficulty getting their heads around the whole notion that to preserve the theatre was way more expensive than to build a new one for the city because the Ministry of Education is paying two-thirds of it," Harper said.

Under the proposal, the Ministry of Education would fund 500 seats, and 150 more would be paid for through the provincial Neighbourhoods of Learning initiative. The remaining 350 seats would be paid for by the city.

While the final decision regarding the fate of the Eighth Avenue theatre has yet to be made, Harper thinks the opportunity to have a new one built is the better option. Barry Buckland, a board member of the Massey Theatre Society and owner of Lafflines Comedy Club, reluctantly agrees.

"Is it the perfect menu? No," said Buckland. "Is it the best? Most likely. They've been trying to get this thing settled since '97 and I don't think there is any other way. With the amount of brains they've got working on this, I'll bet they've thought of every possible way. You can't please everyone"

For his part, he said the city would be committed to seeing a minimum of 1,000 seats built.

"I don't know why people there were so wound up in the cost. What I think it was for a lot of those people who spoke about the issue of trust, they really just want to preserve the old theatre."