A new performance space has officially opened inside the Paramount Theatre in downtown Kamloops.

Kamloops Film Society Executive Director, Dusan Magdolen, says it is another step towards their plans to turn the Paramount Theatre into a cultural hub for the arts in the Tournament Capital.

“Films are always going to be the backbone but you know right now, we’re generally only open on the weekends but we want to be open all week, every night or at least six nights a week, and I think rentals could be a big part of that right if we’ve got other stuff going on,” he said on the NL Morning News.

“We’re excited to keep expanding.”

Magdolen says he feels the Paramount Theatre – which began operations in 1955 – would be a good value space for medium sized concerts, comedy shows, and plays in Kamloops.

“You know anyone who is kind of connected to arts in Kamloops knows there is a bit of a shortage in space, and at different levels right? Sometimes that sort of 50 to 100 size, there seems to be a few of those spaces kicking around,” Magdolen added.

“When we did our launch, we had a few different acts on it and all that was great. I think its a very good value space for how many seats it has and how much we’re charging. It gives another opportunity for something in downtown.”

Magdolen says using the Paramount Theatre as a cultural hub was always in the plans when the Kamloops Film Society took over the building in 2019. The facility on Victoria Street seats about 475 people in Theatre 1 and 260 in Theatre 2.

“There was kind of a lip of a stage, and we were like ‘let’s build it out and make it a true stage,'” he said. “I mean we still don’t have a green room and we only have a little bit of lighting, and those sorts of things, but this is step one.”

“We’ve already had quite a few rentals in both our theatres for various acts and so we just keep trying to add to our assets in both theatres, so that more people find us worthwhile to rent from.”