WKP Kennedy Gallery

In the 1970s, an organization called North Bay Theatre and Arts Community Centre (TACC) was formed with the goal of establishing an art centre to house all arts-related endeavours within the city and surrounding district. At the time, North Bay had finally developed the Golden Mile area of the Lake Nipissing waterfront, had built arenas and parks throughout the city, and the final missing piece was to have a local performance hall and art gallery. When Famous Players announced in the 1980s that they wanted to convert the Capitol into smaller cinemas. TACC decided that the Capitol was too wonderful to get chopped up into small rooms, and that it could be the perfect facility for their dream arts centre. TACC obtained funding from three levels of government as well as local fundraising over a period of eleven years, raising almost $2 million. The Capitol Theatre was purchased for the City of North Bay in 1985. Two years after the purchase, in 1987, a newly renovated facility was opened and dubbed the Arts Centre. The theatre seating was cut down from 1455 to 998 in favour of better seating and views of the stage. This new facility also included a public art gallery, the WKP Kennedy Gallery, named for a prominent businessman in North Bay’s early history and for the Kennedy family’s investment and involvement with the TACC cause. Rebranding in 1997 saw the centre renamed in honour of its history as the Capitol Centre.