With purchase secured, work begins as Ituna residents take over historic theatre

The work is just beginning for a handful of people in Ituna who banded together and bought the community’s historic theatre.

Peter Overduin is the campaign lead for a group of local residents who worked to save the Ituna Theatre and keep the facility in the community’s hands after seeing it on the auction block.

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“We were all shocked when we saw it go up on the auction right at the end of October, and I realized fairly quickly that if we didn’t get it, it would be lost forever,” Overduin said.

“We realized fairly quickly that we weren’t going to be able to win it on auction. We didn’t know what was going to go on there, so my approach had been to wait the auction out and then see what we could do.”

The decision to wait played out in their favour. Overduin said the group made an offer after the unsuccessful auction, and officially signed the papers to finalize the deal on Friday. The group takes possession of the theatre on December 22.

“It’s an awesome feeling. I didn’t think we would necessarily be successful,” said Overduin.

“We’re eager for the future to get things going, that’s for sure.”

“I reduced the price for them because they were motivated,” said former owner Ajmal Usman. “They were willing to save the theatre.” (Peter Overduin/Submitted)

Overduin said the group is planning to renovate the theatre and transform it into a community-owned cultural arts centre co-operative.

He said there are not many meeting places in Ituna, so the group would like to see the theatre not only show films, but also serve as a hub, playing host to various events and functions.

“I would love to see plays, music groups, live theatre, Indigenous-related and led events and birthday parties,” said Overduin.

“We did not want to lose yet another business, especially something that’s been such a key part of the community since 1946, so there was a lot of real emotional energy that was put into making this a success.”

He said the history of the theatre has created an overwhelming amount of support from not only people in Ituna, but across the entire province.

“People really stepped up, and they have faith in the project,” Overduin said.

“It’s a relief, the response I’m getting from people, even from people who aren’t able to invest in it at all. It’s so awesome we can have a chance to really make a go of this.”

Overduin explained the group has been collecting money through an investment co-op to purchase and run the theatre.

“I’ve had calls and investors even from around the province with their ideas. There’s even been donors who have stepped up,” he said. “They don’t want to invest – they just want to donate money. So it’s been a really good outpouring of support that kind of took me by surprise.”

Now that the group has the property secured, Overduin said the next step is incorporating the investment co-op and completing all the paperwork like lining up utilities and insurance, as well as setting up accounts with film studios in Canada.

Overduin said the learning curve has been quite steep.

“I’ve never been involved in something of this magnitude before, so I want to be really transparent with everybody. You know what they say: measure twice, cut once.”

Overduin said community is at the top of his mind, explaining he always wanted this theatre to be something the community owned together.

“If it’s ever sold, we have complete control over who would be sold to. But I think now that we’ve got it back, I don’t think the community is going to be in any mood to ever sell it again or let it out of town hands,” he said.

“That security, too, is something that people feel really like, ‘Wow, we did this, and it’s ours.’”