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CCC on the Move in May!

May 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Articulate Ink's former home awaits a new artist to come and create.

Articulate Ink’s former home awaits a new artist and their creations.

I have to think it’s just the peanut butter theory – the unchangeable law of the universe that says that all dropped toast shall land peanut butter side down. It’s the same law that determines that if you move hundreds of pounds of printing equipment up three flights of stairs and then build a wall around those stairs, you’ll inevitably find yourself needing to move all that equipment again within two years. That’s how I explain things to myself so I can sleep at night.

We moved Articulate Ink to the second floor last week. Many of you may not be aware that there is a large studio space behind the Polka Dot Door on our second floor. Previously, it was occupied by several artists and designers as joint studio space. Now, it’s Articulate Ink’s new home, and visual artists Jason Cawood, Blair Fornwald, Amanda Walton and Katherine Telford have moved into the 3rd-floor studios where the articulates used to press.

It really is the best situation for everyone. Our studio tenants will have more privacy and quiet, while Articulate Ink will be able to spread out to better accommodate their members and their ever-expanding empire. The insanity involved with collecting and exchanging tenant keys, removing all the junk left behind from the renovations, previous tenants and life in general, as well as actually getting the equipment down the stairs will eventually be worth it for us and for you, our patrons.

Plus: all this rearranging means we now have studio space available for rent upstairs! One small space for $75/month and a large studio for $250/month. If you’re a visual artist/photographer type in need of a space in which to create, shoot me an email and we can arrange a tour. Unfortunately, we can’t accommodate musicians due to the community nature of our space.

You should all check out Articulate Ink at articulateink.squarespace.com. These folks have some seriously cool stuff going on and you’re going to want to see it for yourself. The website has all the info you’ll need for memberships and upcoming workshops in the new space.

As for me, I will never move anything ever again. Or eat peanut butter. Just to be safe.

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Creative City Kids

April 12, 2013 By 1 Comment

531933_10101073678312431_1528834793_n Ok. So here’s the deal: You have 5 days to stage a 30-minute, 6-song musical in a reputably haunted theatre that’s falling down around you. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: your cast is a group of eighteen 8-10 year-olds hopped up on Easter chocolate. Aaaannnnd GO!

It sounds like the plot for a reality TV show. You know, one of those programs where Cameron Mackintosh comes in at the end of day 5 and presents the winner with a cheque for a million dollars. In my case, this was a teaching contract I had over the Easter holidays that tested just how far I would go to live the CCC’s motto and be a ‘catalyst for a creative community‘.

It’s called Glee camp. Five days over the Easter break where parents drop their budding thespians off at the Conservatory of Performing Arts for 8 daily hours of singing, dancing and acting. I had signed on to teach at the camp, alongside director/choreographer Chip McDaniel, at the end of February and while I was looking forward to the week I really didn’t expect what was coming.

I felt like everything was under control. Chip and I both knew what we were doing and we worked well together. We’d literally just closed a production of Smokey Joe’s Cafe where Chip had directed/choreographed and I had played DeLee. We had this cased. Or so I thought.

Within the first five minutes of camp we had already been forced to recast the role of Cinderella, three kids were crying because they didn’t like their parts, one kid was crying because she slipped on water that was leaking from the roof, I had nearly been knocked unconscious by a falling piece of Darke Hall’s ceiling decor and I couldn’t deal with any of it because I was too busy filling out an incident report for an asthma attack that one of our campers was wheezing her way through. As I filled out the forms, I scolded myself for forgetting the most important variable in this whole project: the KIDS.

I don’t have any. In case you were wondering. And while I’ve taught children before, I’m more accustomed to hour-long private lessons than an 8-hour school day. As for that motherly instinct that seems to innately tell some women how to best nurture children? Yeah. I got none of that. But my time-steps are lovely, I assure you.

So there I was, putting out fires, slapping on band-aids and feeling like all I was really doing was babysitting when something incredible happened. The kids started to get settled. They started to feel comfortable in the space, with each other and with us and they started to open up. It turns out, they actually like this stuff! We haven’t lost the battle to video games! There are still kids out there that would rather spend their holidays singing and dancing than anything else and throughout the week they continued to impress.

Over the course of the camp, the kids learned 6 songs, a 30-minute script and choreography to each song. We played games, learned about theatre etiquette and shared various ghost stories about Darke Hall’s legendary hauntings. When we assigned homework, it came back completed and the kids continued to make progress. Of course, that’s not to say things were easy. There were still plenty of band-aids to apply, plenty of conflicts to resolve and a few nights where both Chip and I were up until 2:00 am sewing costumes and finding props.

The thing is, all that stuff was secondary to the growth I could see in all eighteen of our students. Every bit of effort we put in was returned in the form of new skills picked up, tighter choreography or even just a smile on a formerly frustrated face. I suppose it’s what they refer to as ‘paying it forward.’

When Friday afternoon rolled around it was time to present our little musical to the campers’ families and friends. The funny thing is, I’ve never been nervous for any of my own performances but I had a major case of butterflies this time around. I knew how hard these kids had worked and I wanted them to have the great show they deserved. I wanted them to feel the joy I feel in the arts. I shouldn’t have been worried. The kids performed ‘Ever After — a Musical’ better than I could have ever planned or anticipated. It was fantastic.

It’s been almost a week since the camp ended and I’m just now getting the feeling back in my legs. The ringing in my ears is probably permanent. I just can’t stop reminiscing about the teachers who stood in the wings with a bad case of butterflies at MY childhood performances. I had loved the arts then just like my campers do now and I’m thankful for the opportunity to pass it on. At the CCC we often refer to the organization as a catalyst for a creative community. I can’t think of a better catalyst than a big group of creative kids.

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The Cost of Art

March 15, 2013 By Leave a Comment

UnknownMost months it takes me a while to figure out what I should write about for the CCC blog. This month’s topic has been following me around like a shadow.

It started innocently enough when I stumbled upon a long and detailed facebook discussion thread involving several participants, most of whom were artists. The thread was examining the age-old question: What is art worth and how should artists be paid? The overwhelming majority seemed to side with the opinion that there is no free art; an artist’s work and time are valuable and the assumption that they should be given away for free leads to the death of many burgeoning careers. I read through the thread and thought about all the times I have been asked to sing at weddings and other events only to be met with a shocked expression upon bringing up the subject of payment and I thought: here, here.

The next morning over coffee and my daily facebook addiction, the topic arose again. A friend of mine, currently studying musical theatre composition at NYU, had posted a TED talk by alt-rocker Amanda Palmer entitled ‘The Art of Asking’. Over the course of a 15-minute talk (a must-see for any art lover, regardless of their position on the topic), Palmer compared her experience busking to the way music is available online. She talked about the exchanges she had made on the street – a human, artistic connection in exchange for a free will donation – and how that had inspired her to price her digital music as ‘pay what you can’. If that meant giving it away for free, so be it. She summed it up by saying the solution to the ‘cost of art’ problem was not about making people pay for art but asking people to pay for art. There may be people who scoff and yell ‘get a job!’ as they pass but there will be more who see the real value and will pay what the art is worth. After watching the presentation, I thought back to the nearly 4 months I had spent in 2012 as a busker in Melbourne, Australia. I had managed to feed myself on the money passersby were willing to exchange for the songs I was singing and I thought: She has a point.

A few days later I really got smacked with it. I had been contracted to work as a performer for a set amount of time and money. With less then 24 hours’ notice, the employer asked for additional services which I was unable to provide and so declined. The next thing I knew, I was dealing with an employer who wanted to halve my agreed-upon wage for not consenting to work outside our agreement. After a long, hard meeting over what was fair and what was deserved, I left fully paid but my head was spinning, wondering what in the world I had signed up for when I decided that I wanted to work in the arts. Was this going to be a constant theme in my life? I have always found myself struggling with the idea of what exactly I’m worth as a musician, actor and arts instructor. Am I less of an artist if my passion for what I do gives way to a need to put food on the table? I have always hated the term “starving artist” and tend to respond to it by saying ‘I ate three meals today, all of which I paid for. Thanks.’ but I also do certain gigs for free if the cause is right or the experience is worth it. It’s always been a matter of personal judgement and a personal balancing of the books. So am I less of an artist? Less a contributing member of society? I have to admit, for a moment in the midst of my head-spins I was contemplating law school.

Then, on Thursday night I got my closure. I was traveling through Eastend, SK. and staying the night with a couple of married artists in their eighties. She works in watercolor and he works in stained glass. As we sat in their kitchen chatting over a cup of tea, the topic came up again and I thought that, surely, this couple with decades of experience would have the answer. They didn’t. They’d come up against the question of ‘the cost of art’ their entire lives. They had built careers, they had had their art purchased for good prices, their art was hanging in collections all over the world and yet every now and then they still came across someone who didn’t view what they did as a ‘real job’. Grandparents in their eighties.

I said that that evening gave me some closure on the issue and it really did. I walked away from that night grateful for all of the people around me who know that art enriches their lives every day. It’s a community of people who instinctively know that art is ‘a real job’ and that it encompasses entertainment, sentimental and monetary value. If that community can continue to work and  bring value to our larger community as a whole then those people yelling ‘get a job’ as they pass will be vastly outnumbered by those who are willing and excited to support the arts – financially, physically and spiritually.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thank you Regina!

February 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

February 11th was a really awesome night at the CCC. The Once,  a Juno nominated folk trio from Newfoundland, played a fantastic show to a sold out house in our Hague Gallery. The music was beautiful, energetic and inspiring and the crowd in attendance was much the same.

Regina did us proud that night by not only packing the place but by supporting the band through CD sales and bringing the warmth and excitement that Saskatchewanians seem to take with them wherever they go. A great time was had by all, and I’m not surprised.

Saskatchewanians have this uncanny way of getting behind things and giving them wings. As Regina grows (as it seems to be doing in leaps and bounds these days), so does its arts community. Artist followings seem to be steadily rising, allowing for more culture within our community, more program development and more jobs outside of the corporate mold.

Okay. That may be a slightly utopian way of looking at Regina in 2013 but I call ‘em like I see ‘em. The artistic presence in this city is growing and it will continue to do so as long as the community gets behind it. With the Junos arriving in Regina this April, our community has a huge opportunity to show the rest of the country just what our cultural climate has to offer. With an incredible array of local talent and the world’s best fans, we have a lot to be proud of!

So keep up the good work Regina! We at the Creative City Centre appreciate it. It’s through your support that this city becomes a more exciting and engaging place to be with each passing day.

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When Your Day Job is in the Arts……

January 13, 2013 By Leave a Comment

How many CCC employees does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Two. One to get up on the ladder to change it and the other to take a picture on her cell phone. That’s exactly what happened in the office this afternoon. Shayna (our grant writer) took a picture of me taking down the light fixture above my desk to change the bulb. I suppose it’s probably because I don’t really seem like the type to be hauling around ladders and fixing things (to be fair to Shayna, I was wearing a skirt) but it’s one of the many facets of this job.

The longer I spend working here, the more I get to thinking that jobs in the arts are hard for people to wrap their heads around. Friends, family and patrons ask me all the time what exactly it is I do all day and the answer is anything and everything. In an average work day I can do anything from going shopping for beer, pretzels and office supplies (yes, we need all those things to operate successfully)to washing dishes, cleaning the bathrooms, taking potential renters on a tour of the building, doing the office banking, managing the door for a concert, bartending for the same concert, gathering statistics based on our past performance revenues or taking the garbage out. Actually, that’s exactly what I did yesterday. I am the janitor, the office manager, the MC, the superintendent, the bartender, the house manager and anything else that might be needed on any given day. The funny thing is, that’s not all that unusual.

Marian Donnelly handled all this plus booking and grant writing before the current staff came along and she’s still helping us out as we transition into taking over the office. Arts organizations across Canada function with ‘jack-of-all-trades’ staff who make the place run while working hard for grant funding to keep the programs rolling. It’s not your typical office.

There are a lot of perks to a job like this as well. As an artist-run centre, our staff keep pretty flexible hours which we work around our other gigs. We often work from home, and can work late nights or early mornings depending on what shows and meetings are booked into the calendar. Speaking of shows, that’s probably the best part of this job. We’re exposed to new artists every day. I have discovered dozens of artists that I love since starting here in July and have been inspired by all of them. I think I speak for all staff when I say we feel pretty lucky to be here.

It’s an unconventional job but I’m glad it’s mine. Music, flexible hours, a beautiful building and an amazing staff. All in a day’s work.

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Awesome Accomplishments and Limitless Potential: 2012 at the CCC

December 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Another year is coming to a close and as we usher in 2013 the staff and community around the Creative City Centre have real reason to celebrate.

In the 2012 fiscal year the Creative City Centre managed to present 144 events. That’s right. One hundred and forty-four different events found their way into our space. 65 music concerts with artists from across Canada, 30 visual art events, 11 spoken word nights, 11 theatre or comedy nights, 7 film screenings and 20 community events filled calendars and imaginations throughout our community.

We were a venue for Culture Days and the Breakout West Music Festival (on the same weekend!) It was a weekend full of great music supported by hardworking volunteers and a few tired but happy staff members.

Speaking of staff members, we got some this year! The CCC was able to obtain the funds to employ 4 young arts professionals to run the joint (myself included). Having staff has allowed us to apply for more grant funding and to begin to expand our programming.

The Polka Dot Door opened on the second floor and has expanded to carrying the products of 12 local clothing designers. Along with the store opening, Roberto Lopez Lopez finished work on our mural, making our front entrance unmistakable.

We launched the website for ‘Take It All In,’ our joint advertising venture with The Artful Dodger and The Artesian (see November’s blog) and were excited to finally obtain our permanent liquor license and bring our bar back into regular operation.

It’s been a year of exponential growth and development. I think what’s most exciting about 2013 is that I can’t forsee this forward momentum slowing down any time soon. The ideas for programming keep growing and the artists stepping forward to perform here seem to get better and better. To top it off, we’re starting to develop a following. One of the most satisfying parts of my job is meeting people at events who tell me that they had no idea the CCC existed and then seeing them again at the next event and the one after that.

My sincere thanks to all of you who have frequented our events over the past year and to all the artists who have brought their work to our stage and walls. You’re the reason we do what we do. Happy Holidays and all the best in 2013!

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Take It All In!

November 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It’s one of the oldest cliches out there: listening to a friend moan that they have nothing to wear while they paw through a closet that’s bursting at the seams. That’s how I feel every time someone tells me that there’s nothing to do in Regina.

The Saskatchewan music and arts scene is growing every day. Acts like Belle Plaine, The Deep Dark Woods, B.D. Willoughby and Eileen Laverty have been entertaining crowds across the country. While emerging artists like Danny Goertz, Nick Faye and Alexis Normand are ensuring that Saskatchewan music will only continue to develop.

As the music scene grows the need for venues grows in tandem. The last few years have seen the arrival of not only The Creative City Centre but the Artesian on 13th and The Artful Dodger Cafe & Music Emporium. These three venues offer a dedicated concert experience at three different levels of capacity. The CCC is the smallest venue with a capacity of 50, making it the perfect intimate space for singer/songwriters and emerging artists. At 125, the Artful Dodger is a great space for artists with a bit more market exposure and at a 200 seat capacity, The Artesian offers a great option for artists who can attract a larger audience but want to maintain a sense of intimacy.

All three venues offer performance opportunities for artists and infuse a vibrant concert culture into our community, but let’s be honest, making a business thrive these days is tough. When you’re talking about an arts organization, things tend to get that much tougher. Luckily, there’s strength in numbers.

The Creative City Centre, The Artful Dodger Cafe & Music Emporium and The Artesian on 13th have partnered together on a new project we’re calling “Take It All In.” Instead of pitting one venue against another, we’re pooling our resources and working together to promote our concerts, increase ticket sales and develop the next generation of music audiences in our community. Check it out by visiting www.takeitallin.ca.There you’ll find a joint events calendar listing concerts at each venue along with a monthly mixtape and links to all the individual venue websites. Not only are there tons of things to do in Regina, there’s now a one-stop shop for all your concert-going info.

Now you’ll just need to decide what to wear…..

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Togs, Talent and Turkey Dinner: Fall arrives at the Creative City Centre

October 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I have no idea where September went. I swear it was here a second ago and now I’m hauling myself out of a turkey-induced coma to write October’s blog.  [Read more...]

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Changes at the Creative City Centre

September 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The two floors above Loggie’s Shoes have seen their fair share of transition over the last few years.  From new walls to fresh paint, to new businesses and a new creative venue; this space has been turned upside down and now, as things seem to be hitting a stride of sorts, these old halls are getting ready for another big change.   [Read more...]

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Time flies when you’re having fun…

September 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Okay, so this was going to be a monthly blog, and here it is…five months after my last entry in May.  What can I say? I’ve been busy, that’s the truth.  It’s also a bit of an understatement.  I’ve been on a nonstop whirlwind of planning and producing music concerts, art exhibits, workshops, life-drawing classes and fundraising events, plus doing my civic duty by participating in the current planning process undertaken by the City of Regina, plus writing endless grant applications, always looking for new sources of revenue for this place, while finishing the renovations on the second floor, plus continuing to look for whatever sources of revenue I can find to pay the mortgage and bills at home while I’m working here without a paycheque….yup, it’s been a busy five months.  [Read more...]

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