RECENT NEWS that the owners of the former Globe Theatre are having trouble getting it off their hands, should spur Government and/or private interests to take advantage of the willingness of said owners to negotiate the price downwards to seize what once was and is capable of being another substantial asset in Bridgetown.
Perhaps this is an opportunity for the public and private sector to open a new chapter. Picture this: a new state of the art cultural arts centre/museum at the “top” of Roebuck Street.
Plans to refurbish the upper part of the Constitution River have already been publicly articulated, imagine such an edifice overlooking what would hopefully be a pristine water way that affords a view as far as Queen’s Park.
Not only would the cinema building be upgraded but the entire eastern end of Roebuck Street including the roundabout and the space immediately adjacent to the eastern side of Weymouth Ground and the entire stretch of Halls Road/and Tweedside Road.
Such enhancements would be in keeping with a general modernisation of The City as a whole and would fit neatly into announced plans to redevelop Roebuck Street, and a performing arts centre in that location would complement the Frank Collymore Hall on the other end of Roebuck Street.
On another but related note, the announcement that Barbados will be hosting CARIFESTA after 36 years, in 2017, went by without fanfare.
The last time the island held the event in 1981, one of the biggest concerns was finding suitable accommodation to house the various individual events. That should not be an issue now with the since constructed Frank Collymore Hall, the Sherbourne [now Lloyd Erskine Sandiford] Centre, the renovated Kensington Oval, the Steel Shed (which was refurbished for that occasion), the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination and various upgraded school halls, not to mention outdoor spaces like Independence Square and the Church Village Green now available.
However, maybe the hosting of such a large prestigious event would spur private sector investment in creating additional spaces such as the unused Globe Cinema building, or the reuse of others that have been too long neglected.
– RANDY BATSON
