GUYSBOROUGH – After two years of groundwork to move the project from concept to construction, organizers behind a proposed Acadian cultural centre in the Torbé region say they’re nearly ready for shovels in the ground on a project projected to cost at least $3.5 to $4 million.
The update came April 15 during a regular council session for the Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG), where Jennifer Delorey, president of La Société Acadienne de Torbé, told councillors the long-anticipated project has moved beyond concept and into position for funding and construction.
Delorey described the proposed centre – first brought to council’s attention in 2024 – as a magnet for culture, community and economic activity. “The centre will become the hub of the greater Torbé region’s community, a place where everyone is welcome,” she said. “It will be a museum… a gathering place… an economic driver for the region.”
The project also includes plans to integrate a permanent home for École Belle-Baie, the region’s French-language school, which is operating out of a temporary modular site – a move designed to reinforce both cultural and educational development in the region.
In an interview with The Journal following the meeting, Delorey emphasized the presentation was not a funding request, but a signal that the society has completed the groundwork needed to move the project forward.
“This was more so to let everyone know that we’re here now,” she said. “Two years ago, we weren’t at a place where we could apply for capital funding because we hadn’t done our part.”
Since then, she said, they’ve secured a parcel of land from the Diocese of Antigonish with the support of St. Peter’s Parish, with survey work completed and legal transfer nearing completion. The site is intended to house both the cultural centre and a permanent home for École Belle-Baie.
When fully realized, the centre – which will be located on the grounds of a former school in Larry’s River – will serve as a multi-use cultural and community hub, with space for events and festivals, exhibitions and interpretive displays on Acadian history, and programming in music, theatre, literature and traditional foodways. Plans also call for genealogy and archival research space, language revitalization initiatives and room for a range of community services, including health and wellness programming.
Delorey said the push to tie the facility to École Belle-Baie – the region’s first French-language school, which opened in 2023 and now serves more than 20 students from primary through secondary grades – was deliberate.
“The school is now in a temporary location… it’s not permanent,” she said, referring to the modular classrooms in Larry’s River next to the local fire station. “Our plan is to get the cultural centre built and in place so that the permanent school will have a home to come to.”
She added the combined school and cultural centre is a model the province is now supporting as part of its approach to education and culture. “Pugwash recently opened… the community built the cultural centre attached to the school, [which was] there first… language and culture… one really reinforces the other.”
The original feasibility study, completed in 2024, estimated the project at between $3.5 and $4 million, a figure Delorey said is now likely higher, noting that the group is pursuing a multi-layered funding strategy involving all three levels of government as well as a community capital campaign.
“Our first step is to access funds for the architectural design… Once our meetings with all three levels of government are completed, our focus will move to launching the capital funding campaign,” she told council last week, noting their intention is to apply for MODG support under its community recreation capital grant program by Dec. 31.
“This is a project that brings people together,” she said. “We are not a fly-by-night organization. We would hope to have shovels in the ground in late 2027.”
