| Arts groups in Calgary are facing a growing crisis due to the city’s hot real estate market, which is pushing them out of buildings due to redevelopment and high rents. Meanwhile, individual artists are scrambling to find affordable housing and studio space.
Last week Fast Forward reported that The New Gallery, Alberta’s oldest artist-run centre, has to be out of its building on Ninth Avenue S.W. by January because the building is being knocked down and replaced by office towers. Other groups are also concerned about their future.
The Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers (CSIF) and Storybook Theatre, both currently located at Currie Barracks, a former military site, are both unsure how long they will be able to remain in their present locations. Canada Lands Company (CLC), an arms-length Crown corporation, owns the Currie Barracks land and is planning to redevelop the site. Mark McCullough, general manager for CLC in Alberta, says the company plans to present its plans to city council this fall for a high-density, multi-use development.
Storybook Theatre has a contract to stay in its building in Currie Barracks until May, but CSIF’s contract has already expired and the organization is trying to negotiate a new one. McCullough says he is unable to say how long current tenants will be able to stay in Currie Barracks buildings because it depends upon how fast the project gets approval.
"We’re going to try and keep as many of the tenants there on a short-term basis as long as we can," he says.
Melody Jacobson, operations co-ordinator for CSIF, believes finding another location will be tough. She says she’d like to see the City of Calgary require developers to include space for non-profit arts and cultural groups before they receive approval for a project.
"You never get a chance to be stable and actually thrive and that’s the situation for so many artist-run centres in Calgary," she says. "You’re always wondering if you’re going to be evicted."
She would like to see more partnerships between private developers and arts organizations that would allow the arts groups to locate in new buildings.
Under the new Beltline Area Redevelopment Plan (ARP) there’s a provision for developers to acquire permission to build higher-density buildings if they provide space to a non-profit organization. Jacobson says she would like to see that expanded throughout the city.
The lack of affordable housing for artists is also a major problem for the arts community. Anthea Black, former director of Stride Gallery, says she knows many artists who are couch surfing or moving away from Calgary because they can’t afford a place to live. The problem extends to arts students. Black recently received a letter from the Alberta College of Art and Design in which the school asked alumni for help finding housing for new students returning to school this fall because many currently have nowhere to live.
She’s concerned that artist-run centres that lose their buildings won’t be able to find replacement space elsewhere in the downtown core.
"I think all the artist-run centres are facing a really difficult period of change and instability with spaces," says Black.
Black says the general public has to start lobbying various levels of government to increase support to the arts.
"If people mobilize around arts issues I think that will be one way to really get some movement," she says.
She would like to see more grants available from the municipal and provincial governments for individual artists to entice them to stay in Alberta, as well as subsidized living/working spaces for artists, and more incentives for developers to include arts groups in their new buildings.
"Unless there’s good opportunities here we’re not keeping people and a lot of the people who are going are between 20 and 35," she says. "The more people who move away the less strong our cultural community is."
Holly Simon, who works for the Calgary Arts Development Authority (CADA), a city agency aimed at promoting the arts, says CADA is very aware of the challenges facing the arts community.
"It’s a huge thing to tackle, but we’ve got to turn it around into opportunity. In a place like this there’s no reason we shouldn’t be one of the top three cities for support of the arts," says Simon.
CADA is currently researching the gaps in arts and cultural space available in the city and Simon says they will be presenting the information to city council in December along with a plan to address the space shortage.
CADA also plans to create a website that will offer information on space that’s available for arts groups to rent or buy.
CADA will also be hosting a series of public forums to talk about the needs of the arts community and a vision for the future of arts in the city. Dates for the forums haven’t been set yet. |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.