Thanks in part to support provided by the Government of Ontario Brock University will play a significant role in the artistic and cultural renaissance of St. Catharine’s downtown core.

On April 14, 2010, St. Catharines M.P.P. Jim Bradley announced that the Government of Ontario, through its Open Ontario plan, would provide $26.2 million to support the construction of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

The School will see 500 full-time Brock students and faculty members relocated from their current quarters on campus to a new, energized downtown setting. It will also provide St.Catharines’ downtown core with a world-class arts facility that will showcase professional artists of local, national and international stature for the cultural enrichment of the greater Niagara community.

The downtown fine arts campus is being built in partnership with the City of St. Catharines, which will build a civic Niagara Centre for the Arts on the other half of the downtown site.

Brock would like to thank the Government of Ontario for their partnership and support. This project will promote and develop the arts in Niagara, and throughout Ontario, and help to spur economic activity in St. Catharines.