Community Facility Opens Doors on Final Stage of Development Project
June 27, 2015 – Tatamagouche, NS – Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
A project 15 years in the making is taking a bow with the completion the final stage of development and the grand opening of the Grace Jollymore Joyce Arts Centre at Creamery Square in Tatamagouche.
Creamery Square began as a dairy operation in 1925 when Alexander Ross moved to Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia from Western Canada and set up shop on the land that had once been a window and door factory in the community. Under Ross’s leadership, as well as Scotsburn Dairy’s in subsequent years, the Tatamagouche Creamery would go on to produce Tatamagouche Butter and other quality products for nearly 70 years.
The completed Arts Centre is the feather in the cap of a community-driven tourism centrepiece on the Northumberland Shore, which also includes the well-attended Tatamagouche Farmers’ Market and the Creamery Square Heritage Centre.
The 6,200 square-foot Grace Jollymore Joyce Arts Centre features a 160-seat auditorium and a 40 person foyer that was created when a historic ice house, which was once used for dairy operations on the property, was given a new lease on life. In combination with an additional outdoor stage, the venue will now be used to host live concerts, festivals, conventions, theatre productions, lectures, visual arts displays and other artisan exhibits.
The Government of Canada has invested a total of $2,539,995 in the Creamery Square project since 2005. This total includes an investment of $1,310,623 for the Arts Centre through ACOA’s Innovative Communities Fund which was announced in January of 2012.
Quick Facts:
- The Arts Centre has been named in honour of Grace Jollymore Joyce, mother of businessman and philanthropist Ron Joyce, who was born in Tatamagouche in 1930.
- In 2010, Creamery Square was awarded the Canadian Museums Association’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Facility Development and Design. (Source)
- Average production of the Tatamagouche Creamery was around 600,000 pounds of butter a year, but in one peak year approximately 1 million pounds of 'the best butter in the world' was produced. (Source)
Quotes:
“I am pleased to have worked closely with the Creamery Square Association over the years in order to ensure that this project became a reality. With the completion of the Grace Jollymore Joyce Arts Centre, Creamery Square solidifies its reputation as not just a place to see when in Tatamagouche, but rather the place that brings people here.”
- Scott Armstrong, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister of Labour and Member of Parliament for Cumberland–Colchester–Musquodoboit Valley, on behalf of the Honourable Rob Moore, Minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency)
“This is an exciting day for Creamery Square in Tatamagouche and really is the result of an entire community coming together to make this vision a reality. The Arts Centre is an important addition to the cultural, artistic and heritage offerings that are already abundant along the beautiful Northumberland Shore.”
- Floyd Tucker, President, Creamery Square Association
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Contacts:
Kelsie Corey
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of State
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
613-941-7241
Alex Smith
Director, Communications and Outreach
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
902-426-9417 / 902-830-3839 (cell)
E-mail: Alex.Smith@acoa-apeca.gc.ca
Fred Maybee
Board Member
Creamery Square Association
902-956-1848
E-mail: info@creamerysquare.ca
