Church Street School Cultural Centre

The historic core of the Town of Aurora contains two Heritage Conservation Districts (one completed, one in progress) including one National Historic Site and several individual buildings which are designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. While rich in heritage, Aurora had no public facilities for performing or visual arts nor does it have a museum – although it has an important local history collection.

Working with the Town of Aurora, Novita created a strategic business and implementation plan for the adaptation of this important heritage property into the Church Street School Cultural Centre. This facility is intended to be a bridge facility for cultural development. The planning process brought together all the cultural stakeholders and constituencies in Aurora to create the plan. Novita developed a concept and business plan for a Town/community partnership which was lauded by the Town as “a new way of delivering cultural services and programs.”

The Town’s heritage efforts were recognized by the Heritage Canada Foundation’s 2008 Prince of Wales Prize for Municipal Heritage Leadership.