The move will separate the Power Plant from the financial troubles of Harbourfront, which has been trying to reduce costs – while at the same time forcing the gallery to reckon with a different kind of financial precarity to make up for its lost Harbourfront Centre funding.
Harbourfront Centre will continue to offer Power Plant free rent, maintenance and security, Power Plant executive director Carolyn Vesely said in an interview Monday. But in the organizations’ new fiscal year, which starts Tuesday, Power Plant will no longer receive annual cash contributions from Harbourfront that have averaged about $120,000 and were $380,000 last year.