On Monday night, City Council revealed its plans for the state-of-the-art Weyburn Recreation and Culture Centre. Excitement is oozing out of different groups in the Opportunity City, including those in the arts community.

Current plans include a brand new art gallery in the facility, and its design has put smiles on a lot of faces. 

"This location would be about one-and-a-half-times bigger than the current Allie Griffin Art Gallery," City Manager Matthew Warren said. "You have an office here for our Curator and then storage for our permanent collection. The permanent collection is currently stored downstairs at City Hall. I feel bad for Regan [Lanning] right now, our curator, she has to actually move stuff from the basement at City Hall to three different locations. With amalgamating more of arts programming and more of our multi-purpose programming, she won't have to do that anymore. She would have the majority of her permanent collection here in a humidified area. It's really a first-class gallery."

The climate controlled area allows for greater storage of works and the ability to house more high-quality art, too. As it stands today, galleries in Weyburn aren't equipped to handle certain art shows.

Warren says all that will change in 2021 when the WRCC is expected to open. 

"Our shows can actually increase as well as we move forward. There's a lot of shows we currently can't bring in because of the standards of our current galleries," he said. It's a big push for us to have a gallery that we can actually have more high-class shows in and showcase more of our arts from here and afar."

Along with the gallery, comes a proposed space for a pottery room. It will have multiple pottery wheels and kilns to utilize for experienced and beginner artists. The space will be home to classes for adults and kids and the hope is it provides plenty of new opportunities for children to try and learn new skills. 

Another of the many exciting features is the freedom in which the gallery will have. They're slightly handcuffed right now due to hours at the Allie Griffin, but the new gallery will have a more private feel. 

"There's also a separate entrance for the art space. If they want to have a gala event, they can feel like they have their own space. It's more of a closed off area," Warren explained.

With each new detail in every facet of the building, the excitement and enthusiasm about this project builds more. Construction is slated to begin this year and many are already counting down the days until the grand opening in 2021.