The H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, which will stop showing laser rock shows on January 28, is gearing up for a $5.4 million fundraising drive so it can buy new projectors for its iconic circular theatre.
It is also renewing its business plan and urging its landlord, the City of Vancouver, to upgrade the 43-year-old facility.
The space centre’s laser rock shows, which have been an attraction for 30 years, have been presented by Vancouver’s Roundhouse Productions.
The space centre, which some people fondly call the Planetarium, is not renewing Roundhouse Productions’ rental agreement, the space centre’s executive director Rob Appleton told Business in Vancouver January 10.
“The plan is to do a renewal of our technology,” he said. “Planetarium technology is a bit old. What we want is better than high definition TV.”
Appleton expects the technology renewal to cost about $5.4 million.
Upgrades to washrooms, which resemble 1960s-era high school lavatories, will come if the City of Vancouver antes up extra money for the renovations.
“If we’re state-of-the-art in the Planetarium and you go to the washroom on that level, we don’t want you to feel that you’re entering a time warp,” he said.
The space centre has produced its own shows and sold them to other space centres until the late 1980s.
Appleton wants to get back into selling proprietary content.
“We’re working with Shaw Cablesystems and Bardel Entertainment and the Centre for Digital Media as our production partners,” he said.
Glen Korstrom
@GlenKorstrom