Rosebud School of the Arts welcomes ongoing BMO sponsorship

Times Contributor  

 

Rosebud School of the Arts students will start the upcoming school year in a study and performance space that is both fifteen years old and brand new, thanks to a new five-year sponsorship agreement with BMO Financial Group.

The building and grounds of the Studio Stage, the primary stage for Rosebud School of the Arts (RSA) productions, have received a makeover and were renamed the BMO Studio Stage and Student Garden.

Paul Muir, RSA’s education director, says the school became connected with BMO through Jeri Sherban, the bank’s Community Investment Manager, and her husband Orest. “They come out to so many events. They come out to all the student events,” he says. “Jeri and Orest just seem to have decided ‘We’re all about these students at Rosebud,’” Muir says, “and decided (they’re) going to get BMO to give some money to Rosebud, but it’s going to be focused on student activity and student advance and student facilities.”

“BMO was inspired to support the Rosebud Centre of the Arts because of our focus on education, the arts and our community,” says Danny Menard, BMO’s Vice President for Commercial Banking, Central Alberta. “BMO values being a strong community partner, just in making our communities better places to live and this centre is a great example of those values in action.”

“The makeover included prominent signage to transform the look of the building and provide an outdoor study and recreation space for the students,” Menard says. “The donation will also fund the education scholarships at the centre for the next five years.” Those scholarships continue to provide honoraria for RSA students who participate in Rosebud Theatre productions.

The new signage “is going to provide a fabulous point of focus,” Muir says. “With this fantastic 17-foot-high sign, you can actually see from way in town … Oh, there’s something worth seeing out there.” The sign’s designer, Paul Lassen, found “a way to marry the agricultural and industrial look of that building,” Muir says, “and also create some really clean modern lines and throw in a bit of rustic sense to it as well.”

In the BMO Studio Stage and surrounding facilities, “a whole lot of student life and study and everything happens,” Muir says. The BMO funding allowed horticulturalist Colleen Kapell and Sheila Graham to draw up a landscape design, and for Maki Van Dyke, RSA’s registrar, to coordinate a team of volunteers in shaping the bland, undeveloped space into a flower garden. “It turned out fantastic,” Muir says. “It’s going to do a great thing, not only for the students, but also for all the patrons.”

“When you walk into a space that feels like it has been paid attention to, whether it’s an indoor space or an outdoor space,” he says, “and care has been given to what it looks like and how it’s been designed…. it changes something in you.”

“I can’t wait for (the students) to come back in September,” he says, “when they walk out there and go, ‘Oh! This is what our space is now like.’ I actually think it’s going to do something for them just in terms of their perspective and their attitude toward their studies.”

The new funding agreement, and the makeover of building and grounds, was celebrated with a Grand Opening on July 24, 2014.

“We’re so grateful to BMO,” Muir says. “I do believe that this is the beginning of a really good long-term relationship with BMO. …I think we’ll be invested for a long time.”

As this story was being developed, Rosebud Centre of the Arts (RCA) also announced a million dollar donation from Dick and Lois Haskayne, both of whom grew up in the Rosebud area. The Haskaynes’ donation will retire the mortgage on the Mercantile, now named the Rosebud Haskayne Kenny Mercantile, and foster ongoing growth for RCA. “The Centre, whose vision aligns with ours, provides quality education and entertainment,” said the Haskaynes in a prepared statement. “Simply, it has kept the community of Rosebud alive. We are proud to honour our rural roots and to offer financial support to ensure continued success.”