User groups say they are thrilled with Friday morning's announcement in Steinbach by HyLife. The company says it supports the vision by one of Steinbach's mayoral candidates and is committing $5 million towards construction of a new community events centre in Steinbach.

Graham Pollock is Board Chair for Steinbach Arts Council. He says this is the first step in a dream for a performance facility for Steinbach's arts and culture community. Pollock notes the Steinbach Arts Council has been around for 40 years. In that time it has outgrown a number of venues and Pollock says it is time for an upgrade. He says Steinbach has the largest arts council in western Canada and the most working artists per capita in western Canada.

"We need a facility and a space that's going to allow them to grow and allow us to offer the programming that we want to offer," notes Pollock. "There's programming that we can't offer because we don't have the space or the room to do it."

Pollock says anytime a business steps in to work with and benefit a community, that is a good thing. Whether it is a one hundred dollar donation or a five hundred dollar donation, Pollock says it is all for the betterment of the community.

"The arts council is thrilled," he says. "There is a sense of optimism that we're going to move forward with something."

The Head Coach for the Steinbach Pistons shares that same excitement. Paul Dyck says Friday's announcement is exciting news for all user groups.

"Very grateful for HyLife to step up and take the initiative with a very, very generous donation," says Dyck. "I think everybody understands the impact of that and the private dollars that are going to be necessary here, so for them to take a lead roll, it's tremendous for our community."

Dyck notes there are national hockey events which Steinbach would like to host but are not possible because of the condition of Steinbach's arena. He says not only is the ice surface too small, but there is a lack of dressing room space in the ageing facility.

But Dyck says this announcement benefits more than just the sports and arts communities. For example, he refers to Steinbach Regional Secondary School which is forced to host graduation ceremonies in Winnipeg because of a lack of space in Steinbach. Dyck says a community events centre could host this sort of event, keeping a lot more dollars in the city.

"There's no question that there's a need here in Steinbach and we look forward to seeing how things develop from this point forward," adds Dyck. "But today's announcement obviously goes a long ways towards pursuing and putting some shovels in the ground."

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