Shawinigan City Announces $2 Million Revitalization Plan to Eliminate Culture Deficit

SHAWINIGAN. The City of Shawinigan unveiled its revitalization plan Monday to eliminate the Shawinigan Culture deficit. We learned that the nearly $1.4 million debt will be completely paid off by the City, which will also contribute an additional $500,000 from its annual grant, all of which will be taken from surplus of the City, ie a sum of $2 million.

In a special session Monday, elected officials passed a resolution of $1.4 million that will be donated to the Shawinigan Cultural Organization.

Various scenarios were explored for this revitalization plan, even in bringing back cultural management to the city. “After careful consideration, the city council decided that Shawinigan Culture is still the right way to offer culture to the residents of Shawinigan. We considered different paths, studied several possibilities and met cultural industry managers and an expert in the restructuring of cultural organizations. Everyone was unanimous about the importance of keeping the current structure,” said Shawinigan Mayor Michel Angers.

What will be the financial impact of this decision on citizens? “By taking $2 million from our accumulated surplus for the year 2023, in concrete terms there will be no financial impact for citizens. We already have nearly $10 million in surplus collected for the past year. The good operation of the town, the interests we have, the rights of movement, the new buildings, all this means that the rest will be very large,” said Mr. Angers.

In the agreement signed with the Corporation, it is agreed that all members of the board of directors will not return for the next term, and the annual meeting will be held on May 15. Three new members will be appointed, and four positions will be filled.

The City will also issue an order to the firm Raymond Chabot Grant and Thornton for an amount of $43,000 for a support plan. The company will support the general and artistic management of Culture Shawinigan until December 31, 2024.

“We met with the general and artistic management of Culture Shawinigan and received confirmation of their full cooperation. The support plan includes the implementation of audit measures related to the submission of the 2024 budget, implementation of measures for good financial management practices, optimization of subsidy requests, rationalization of operating costs and the establishment of a recovery committee. Interim Director General of the City Kim Dumais.

The recovery committee will consist of two representatives from the municipal public service, two resources from the firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton including a consultant from the cultural management community, two members of the board of directors and two representatives from the Corporation, including the general and artistic director and another person he designates.

The Town will return the “heritage” component that was responsible for the Shawinigan Culture.

In fact, since the City has already allocated nearly $600,000 to Culture Shawinigan, it will pay an amount of $927,094 to erase the total deficit of more than $1.4 million, in addition to the increase in the an amount for 2024 of $500,000, which brings the total to over $2 million.

Of the $600,000, $430,549 was for the Grand-Mère Marina Illuminated Gardens project. Mayor Angers indicated again that this project would be completed by 2025.