In the early 2000s, the Ness Creek Music Festival and Ness Core representatives sat down to talk about how to make more use of the infrastructure that had been built on site, rather than just using it all once a year. The end result of these 'Big Talks' was a new strategy called 'horizontal growth'. This strategy would eventually result in the creation of numerous other festivals and non-profit organizations that make use of the site for events, ecological and educational programming, cultural and artistic symposiums, workshops and collaborations. Once these groups began operating, they quickly realized that they wanted to be able to do more, something that proved to be very difficult with only a few months of beautiful weather each year. The need for a four-season centre to house these groups and their efforts became apparent and the Jack Millikin Centre was born!

Once constructed , this will be a 4000 square foot four-season centre for arts, culture and ecological education nestled in the Saskatchewan boreal forest. It will be a dance hall, a classroom, a workshop venue, an art studio, a performance space, and a banquet hall that can be utilized year-round.