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Pratt Homes wants naming rights for former Mady Centre

Barrie developer makes pitch to city council Monday
2017-12-04 Mady Centre 1
Change was in the wind this week with the removal of 'Mady' from the performing theatre at the Five Points. Shawn Gibson/BarrieToday

The arts centre formerly known as the Mady may have a new name by Monday night. 

City council will receive a motion at its meeting Monday to consider Pratt Homes as the company to take over the naming sponsorship for the performing arts centre at the Five Points.

Pratt’s Marketing Director Todd Palmer says the company jumped at the chance when the city put out the call.

“This is exciting for us and I hope it passes,” said Palmer. “We started looking into this last February after the city went looking for a new sponsor. Heljar and Karen Hansen have been so involved with the arts in Barrie that this was definitely something that we would take a lot of pride in.”

The Hansens own Pratt Homes and have been giving to Barrie’s growing arts scene for many years, holding competitions for emerging artists and giving sculptures a place to be seen prominently.

If Pratt Homes is awarded the sponsorship, they plan to hold a 'Rename This Barrie Theatre' contest that will be open to the public.

The contest would be held on December 12, assuming council approves the sponsorship the night before.

Submissions will be collected for one month after which a short list will be put together by the city,

Pratt Homes and Pratt Development and the public will then vote for their favourite.

“We’re hopefully going to have a contest if the city of Barrie approves and the public will submit ideas,” said Palmer. “We’ll create a short list from which then the public will vote on the name which will be finalized early February 2018. It’s important to us for this building to have an identity beyond corporate sponsorship, but the centre would be presented by Pratt Homes.”

City council begins at 7pm Monday evenings.