Beth Abbott on cooperating with other groups to keep the Space at the Tett Centre.

Beth Abbott on cooperating with other groups to keep the Space at the Tett Centre.

Shaelagh Cull

Beth Abbott

Malting Tower at the Tett Centre

I was president, the year before the decision was made for the city to actually keep this building, we had meetings with all the guilds that are in the building. For the first time, we actually did things together, we were all separate before that there was no cohesiveness at all, really. And we all work together. Because when that issue came up, the city had hired an organization to come in and decide about what they were going to do with all their rental properties. And they never visited the building, they just decided that the city should get rid of all those rental properties. And so then there was a meeting at the harbor, and they had a little room, the city was going to have a meeting and just see what repercussions or what comments could be made. And the people in this building, and others just got right on it. And we filled the place, I think they were just blown away by the enthusiasm. And they said, you can't get rid of it. You know, it means so much to the city. And this organization was only looking at money, of course, not anything else. And we convinced the city that we had value, even if it was hard to put a monetary amount on it, the things that we were doing here, were actually helping people's mental and creative health and so on, and that it was really important. And so the decision was made to hang on to it and to actually put the money in. And we had meetings with groups from Toronto and various other places where similar things had happened. And we had workshops and study groups, and you name it to come up with how the thing will operate. And at the same time, we were meeting regularly with all the other groups in the building and coming up with plans. And so it was a pretty exciting time for the guild. And when we came back into this building, the groups were working together for the opening. It was just an amazing experience for the opening. It was just phenomenal because there was such an energy and excitement. And I still feel it when I come in the building. I don't know that there's that much cooperation and coordination happening now. And maybe, you know, it's been a few years, we need to do something like that, again, to bring all the groups together. But I just feel that it's one of the hidden gems in the city. I don't think enough people know what's here. But more people do than did before, that's for sure. And the guild our guild was one of the original tenants in the building when the city first took it over. And so it was really neat to come back.