Green Light for Stage One of Boden’s Cultural Center

Today’s decision in the municipal council enables the start of stage one of the renovation plans for the Medborgarhuset (Community House). Initially, this involves refurbishing the Forum and Rondo spaces. Within the framework of the first stage, a small cinema is also planned, which can partly serve as an alternative movie theater during the future planned renovation of the larger Saga cinema, but also for smaller screenings in the future.

The proposal developed outlines that the creation of Boden’s cultural center will take place in several stages up to 2032, coordinated with the property owner SBB’s planned renovation of the premises.

“Boden Municipality is a city of culture and leisure. This is a hugely important step forward for our municipality,” says Béatrice Öman, Municipal Commissioner.

Background

The investment in a cultural center is based on an extensive survey of the municipality’s cultural needs. Dialogue meetings and workshops with politicians, associations, property owners, and interest groups have been important for forming as clear a picture as possible of the needs within the municipality. The survey also incorporated the results of a parallel municipal project: Mötesplats Boden (Meeting Place Boden), launched with the aim of creating a central meeting place accessible to residents of different ages and with different needs.

The preliminary work has resulted in a list of functions and a report describing the activities that a future cultural center should ideally include, as well as cost estimates for both investments and operations.

A site analysis shows that the Medborgarhuset is ideal for development into a cultural center, with existing stages and a cinema that can be renovated, but requiring investments to meet today’s needs for meeting spaces, accessibility, and offerings.

Goal

The goal is to create a central meeting place that contributes to more and higher-quality cultural experiences, downtown development, a strengthened economy, new jobs, and increased attractiveness for the municipality.

In total, the municipality’s share of the plans amounts to approximately SEK 22 million distributed over seven years.

“It feels positive that the proposal was approved and that we now have the resources to take advantage of the opportunities available,” says Fredrik Rönnberg, Head of Culture.