An unprecedented collaborative report mapping the concentration of artists in Canadian cities was released last month. The study was a result of the collective effort of the cultural departments of the cities of Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Published by Hill Strategies, and based on data from the 2006 census, the report paints a fascinating picture into the make-up of Canada’s artistic and creative communities.
Each city has its own trends in the way its artistic and creative communities have located. Vancouver had the highest overall percent of artists at 2.3% but has its artistic community spread widely throughout the city. Toronto has by far the largest artistic community; it is home to one in six Canadian artists. Toronto has also seen its artistic neighbourhoods shift slightly since to 2001 to different areas of concentration. Montreal has perhaps the most densely located artistic community and is home to three of the country’s top five artistic employment postal codes. The Montreal neighbourhood of the H2T postal code (northward from avenue du Mont-Royal to avenue Van Horne between St-Denis and Jeanne-Mance) is the most artistic in Canada with artists accounting for 7.8% of its workers, ten times the national average. Ottawa and Calgary have artist concentrations closer to the national average, interestingly they also both have the largest income gaps between artists and the rest of the workforce and the largest percent of female artists. Maps of these trends are shown below.
A mural in Villeray on the side of Les Habitations Saint-Georges, a public housing complex for the elderly. Created by Dominique Desbiens of MU Art in 2008. Entitled : “La 6e sphère de la culture”.
Breaking News: The three new buildings proposed by Société Dévelopment Angus on Boulevard Saint-Laurent will be smaller and longer in coming than originally planned, Le Devoir reported yesterday.
2-22 Sainte-Catherine, the anchor building for arts organizations in the Quartier des Spectacles has shrunk from a 12-story flashy glass-fronted design, to a 5-story brick structure which promises to be more in harmony with the local architecture. Unsurprisingly, the artists for whom this project was conceived would not have been able to afford space in the building. Since this redesign actually fits within the area’s urban plan, no further public consultations will be required.
The controversial Quadrilatère Saint-Laurent has also seen its budget cut by more than half. I have heard rumors from 2 sources that Hydro Quebec has withdrawn from the project. However in an interview with Le Devoir, SDA president Christian Yaccarini said that Hydro Quebec will remain the main tenant in the shrunken Quadrilatère. Rather, he blames Café Cleopatra for retarding the project by refusing to leave the location. The pared-back design will not surpass the Monument National.
The last, and probably best of the SDA’s developments, a cultural centre on the empty lot around metro Saint-Laurent station, is also on hold for “at least a year” (read: indefinitely). The developer has only able to find tenants for a quarter of the space. Once again, few cultural groups are able shell out for the brand new digs, despite municipal subsidies.
Lessons learned?
For people who were involved in the public consultation process, the temptation is to shout out a great big “I told you so.” Architect and author Louis Rastelli, who is involved with the Save the Main recently wrote to me:
“In short, everything everyone warned about these 3 projects has come to pass — rushed forward too soon without confirmed tenants, Hydro not likely willing to wait forever, no plan B from the developer, premature expropriation, questionable idea of putting offices in a concert district etc.”
But money talks and, perhaps ironically, lack of money has ground this project to a halt after citizen opposition was categorically ignored.
There is one contradiction that I hope does not go unnoticed here: during public consultations, we were told that the only way that these projects could be financially viable was through renting many stories of office space. Now, the cash-strapped developer is cutting back the project to something that is actually cohesive with the urban plan in terms of building height. Why was this kind of design initially portrayed as impossible when it is, in fact, not only possible but apparently cheaper? (Keeping in mind that SDA purports to be a non-profit organization).
Unless, of course, this pared-back version of the project actually is impossible, is nothing but a smoke screen to cover a a more complete retreat. Remember when, barely over a year ago, Projet Griffintown’s finances went down the tubes and developer Devimco promised a pared-back project? And then we never heard from them again? A recent writeup in Métro Montréal concludes the project is “practically dead”
We can say good riddance to Projet Griffintown because the developer actually owned very little of the property that they hoped to build upon. That’s not the case with the SDA on the Lower Main: over the past year, they snapped up all the properties they could and crushed the little life that was left on the block below Sainte-Catherine. You can bet that, with the exception of Café Cleopatra and perhaps the Montreal Pool room who have not yet finalized the sale of their property, the strip will be neglected for years to come as this gets sorted out, or doesn’t.
Now, more than ever before, it is time to get a bit more creative and “Save the Main.”
Have we finally learned that confiding a neighbourhood’s revitalization to a single developer (and without even a public bidding process) is too great a risk?
I know that, when they rubberstamp projects of this scale, city officials are not trying to win my vote. Perhaps they are seeking the support from business people, or catering to an older generation wistful for the golden years of bulldoze-and-build-it-better, Expo-style development.
If nothing else, I hope the City be burned enough to learn that bending over backwards to push through a high-profile project is, politically speaking, only a good move if you can actually deliver.
Next week, the Urban Planning Association at Concordia University will be hosting a seminar focusing on public art and public space with Sara Wookey and Karen Spencer.
Sara Wookey is a performance artist based out of LA. She will be speaking about her performance and media-based project BEING PEDESTRIAN where she created various interventions while walking the city (a pretty unusual act in itself for LA). The second speaker, Karen Spencer is a Montreal-based artist and writer who focuses on the fleeting moments experienced in the city. Through walking, loitering, and riding the metro, she creates “performative gestures” while moving through the city. Her work has been featured previously on Spacing and anyone who has ever seen the trilingual cardboard signs describing dreams scattered about the city has seen her work.
The seminar takes place on February 16th at 2h30 pm in room 1269 in the Hall Building (1455 boul de Maisonneuve O.) at Concordia University. You can find more information on the speakers and the seminar on the UPA website.
Not that it’s a very high bar. But since the masses have proven we’re ready to get riled up by any possible televised competition, from dancing to worm-eating, why not inject a little home-town pride into the contest?
La Série Montréal Québec pits Montrealers against our most despised rivals, Quebec city, in our proudest battle-ring: the hockey rink. Guy Carbonneau coaches the Montreal team, which consists of guys and gals, young and old, all with solid hockey-playing credentials.
To fuel the fire, each team composed a battle-song, a local artists’ hymn to their city.
Unfortunately, Eric Lapointe’s ode to Montreal sounds like someone reading aloud from the tour guide to a kinda generic rock-and-roll track. I guess I still got a little flutter of home-town pride when I saw the ad for La Série that played in Montreal (above).
There’s just one problem: Loco Locass’ hymn for Québec City beats our song hands down. The hip hop trio has composed a poetic tribute to their city’s long history and long winters; from First Nations to Carnival, from the riverbank to the plaine through the topographic ups and downsthat are better traveled by stairs than by cars. (The lyrics are available on the youtube page).
Its so good I had to embed the full-length version below – I even head a rumor that mayor Régis Lebaume wants to adopt it as the city’s official anthem.
