THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Art Gallery has barely scratched the fundraising surface and they’re already nearly a quarter of the way to their $2.5-million capital campaign to build a new $33-million waterfront facility.
The effort on Thursday got a $200,000 boost, thanks to a donation from Tbaytel, whose president and CEO Dan Topatigh said it’s one of the main reasons behind the publicly owned utility’s decision to support it.
There are others, he added.
“Our social giving program concentrates on everything from athletics to education to health care, but we really found this as an opportunity to look at the arts and making a contribution in a meaningful way to the community in that respect,” Topatigh said.
“Really, when you look it as the centerpiece of the waterfront, which has really helped to redefine Thunder Bay, I think we’re quite excited about the possibility.”
It was one of two donations announced on Thursday, bringing the campaign total to $600,000 before launching the hard sell portion of it to the public.
For now campaign organizers have been quietly knocking on corporate doors and speaking with patrons of the arts who are most likely to make a donation.
Included in the latter group are Grahame and Nancy Post, who said they were proud to support the fundraising effort because they believe in its importance to the community.
“Opportunities come by often in one’s lifetime, but it’s not always that you have the resources, the skills or the talent to participate,” Nancy said, adding the arts have been a lifeblood to the family, including her husband’s former business, The Framing Post and Art Gallery.
“This may be the kickoff, but we know there are many people who will join us in supporting the new art gallery.
The couple has asked that the amount of their donation remain private.
John Sims, vice-chair of the capital campaign, said they're pleased with its early results.
“We have corporations that are coming on board, we have individuals who are excited about the project,” Sims said. “Each time donations like this come in from the Posts and also Tbaytel, it just adds to the leverage of the public donations coming from other government levels.”
The province earlier this month contributed $5 million to the project, an amount the city has pledged to match.
