| September 2007 |
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copyright the
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INTERVIEW
Multi-Arts Variety Show 3!
Kirk Ramdath interviews Multi-Arts organizer Laurie Fuhr. The show is Saturday, September 22, 2007, 7:30 pm at
Soda (211 12 St SW). Tickets at the Megatunes and Pages in Kensington. www.myspace.com/calgarymultiarts.
Volunteers still needed! Email lauriefuhr@yahoo.ca.
What inspired you to create the Multi-Arts event, and what are you ultimately hoping to accomplish?
MultiArts first came together sort of by accident. Two friends from Ottawa moved to Edmonton and I wanted to get
them a show. Trevor Tchir is a musician, and Kristy (K.L.) McKay is a poet. I thought they could piggyback on another
bill but I couldn’t find anything. So I started putting the show together, and I thought, why not make it as interesting as
possible. I was volunteering for Wordfest and the Slam and filling Station Magazine so I had made a few
connections. I started booking bands and solo musicians and a drama troupe (Swallow a Bicycle) and poets of all
genres. Meanwhile, there was a visual art show on the walls at the time, curated by Reagan Dahlseide, so it was
neat to have so many artforms represented. I found out the venue could support film, so I asked my filmmaking friend
Garth who is Film Editor for filling Station if he might be willing to show some films. Then about a week before the
show, Kristy realized she couldn’t even come because she had a class in Edmonton that day that was pertinent to an
exam and she just couldn’t miss it, and Trevor couldn’t come because he’d be taking their car away. So here I had
this great big show set up for them and they couldn’t make it, but by then it had gotten bigger than that and there was
no way I would cancel. It had become a veritable Celebration of Calgary’s Imagination as I’ve been billing it.
I was really nervous about whether people would come, and did all the advertising I could, but it’s always iffy when you’
re trying something new. Thankfully, the response was terrific, almost overwhelming. The place was packed with
poets, musicians, filmmakers, drama folks and their fans, all milling about, enjoying the show together, chatting and
networking. I saw what a great opportunity it was to bring together the disparate, separate arts scenes in Calgary into
one big supportive community. So many people didn’t know that these other scenes existed and here they were,
creating art side by side. People just get caught up in one thing and put the blinders on, but it’s way more interesting,
especially when you’re an artistic person, to multitask and be interested in all the means and mediums the
imagination can manifest itself. It’s incredibly inspiring no matter what type of art you practice or are interested in.
Not only that, but the show raises money that’s split between performers and Inn from the Cold, which is a local
charity that houses entire homeless families. Through involvement with CHAI, the Calgary Housing Action Initiative, I
was more than aware of the need suffered by the different groups trying to deal with the affordable housing crisis and
the serious lack of shelters. By bringing people together in support of a single cause, not only does it support that
worthy cause, but there’s a good feeling there that manifests itself collectively and makes people even more open to
connecting with one another. D, who runs the Soda, has been so important to the development of Calgary MultiArts
Variety Shows, which are now every six months. He’s very encouraging of local artists, he doesn’t ask for a cut, and
he was the one who suggested a charity donation in the first place. He was open to all my ideas and to taking a
chance on this. The people that work there are terrific too, including Morley, the soundman who has worked each
show. Volunteers have been really important to the success of the events. Also some minor sponsors who have
allowed us to sell tickets or who have provided giveaways like Megatunes, Pages Books on Kensington, and Flemish
Eye Records have really helped to spread the word and increase our profile in people’s eyes by association. The first
two are independent stores valuable to the health of independent art, and Flemish Eye puts out the Cape May and
Chad VanGaalen, two of the most original and amazing music acts in town. They’ll also be putting out The
Summerlad’s new album. So the music nerd in me was thrilled to have them on board. Finally, Sandy Lam, a
graphic designer and friend who has been Visual Editor at filling Station, who does the posters for filling Station’s
Blow Out Festival (coming up on September 14-15) and who even did the art for Lonely Hunters first CD (the band I
play bass in) has been making these beautiful and hip posters for us with octopus or squids appearing to terrorize
the city. Some people put posters down, see it as too much trouble, and don’t really figure it brings people in.
Personally I love the tradition, the perfect image gives you an idea about the event before you go and sets a mood for it
in your mind. And I’m someone who’s out there walking around, taking transit, and seeing the posters, so they’re still
valid for me as a means to find out what’s going on, even if you’re in too big a hurry to pick up the paper at times.
Uppercase Gallery in Art Central had a poster show a few months back where Woodpigeon and Aaron Booth
supported the opening. The diversity of the work was fantastic, the way it played off band names or ignored them and
picked some image on the extreme other end of the spectrum. That show made another solid case for the validity of
poster as artform in my mind.
If i recall correctly, you're not from around these parts. What were your first impressions of the Calgary arts
scene?
I lived all over because my dad was military. Ottawa and Winnipeg were the other big city artscenes I’ve been mixed
up in, most actively with poetry but as a musician and grassroots events planner and volunteer too. In Ottawa and
Winnipeg, supporting the arts was like rooting for the underdog. I have always felt that you should emphasize all that’
s happening and how great it is and not concentrate on what lacks, because people will believe it – the spectators
won’t think they should care to come out and spectate, and the artists get discouraged. Like the rest of life, you
should be grateful for what you have not wallow in what you don’t have because then you can’t enjoy what you’ve got.
Calgary’s arts participation, audiences, arts output (albums, books, events, etc) and number of supportive venues are
definitely the most vital of the three cities. I did visit Toronto a couple of times and Montreal quite often because I had
a poet friend living there and at the time, and they used to have a carpooling company called Allo Stop that could get
you from Ottawa to Montreal for $10 each way (the bus company found some loophole in the law and got them
shutdown, the monopolistic jerks. Now it costs about $80 each way). I wasn’t able to get much sense of Toronto’s
scene aside from the hype, and the readings I happened to do there were at small, expensive venues with equally
small audiences. But Montreal was really inspiring. They’re very positive about the worth of the arts and they’re
creative about events and creative about getting people to come. I participated in some events in Montreal that had
musicians and poets together. The audiences for both came out and got to be fans of both scenes, therefore
doubling everyone’s audience. So artform-crossing and genre-crossing makes sense as a breath of life for the
vitality of the arts community as a whole, plus the more things you have happening at an event, and the more diverse
the crowd, the more energy there is and the more fun it can be. Plus for some reason they loved the shit out of my
underdeveloped oddball lyric poetry so that definitely made me feel good about Montreal! Plus they just seem to be
more openhearted, it’s part of the culture. Strangers come over and kiss you once on each cheek like in France, they’
re just happy to meet other poets. Maybe that’s part of why I don’t meet too many Montrealaise coming to visit
Calgary. If they tried to get friendly over here, they’d be liable to get punched.
How does it compare to where you are originally from?
Calgary’s scene seems more and less vital than Ottawa’s depending the angle you’re coming from.
In terms of arts infrastructure, City Council in Ottawa places so much emphasis on the National Gallery and the
National Museum of Photography near Chateau Laurier and the Poet Laureate and related big-business-supported,
media-attention-generating national arts interests like that that there doesn’t seem to be much budget or political
interest invested in the local arts scene. It’s like the Council doesn’t even know about it. Every now and then the City
will try an initiative or other to ‘revitalize’ the arts, completely ignoring what’s already in place and people who have
been working hard for years. Some arty folk get mad and others write letters asking to cooperate. Mostly the City
ignores the local scene though. Poets probably make the most noise about that and occasionally petition the various
levels of government for more support. I think the per capita spending on arts is something like 0.02 cents per head.
They were successful a few years back when a guy named Steve Artelle, who has also put on the Dusty Owl Reading
Series for years (the first poetry event I ever happened upon) gathered support together and got a Poets Walk
installed that runs through the big cemetery in the centre of town and takes you past the graves of famous Ottawa
poets like Archibald Lampman. They even have readings there sometimes. It seems a bit creepy but it was after my
time in Ottawa so I’ve never been. Still, every little thing helps raise the profile of poetry somewhat, the simple
awareness that it is there.
Wherever you go though, there are creative minds doing interesting things, no matter how much support there is.
There’s no dearth of talent anywhere, but it’s harder to find their work and find out about them when there’s less going
on that the public can see and feel, and I think that fewer young people get interested in the idea of becoming artists.
So it really is important to keep making noise about the importance of funding and keep trying to get new people
interested in supporting art and making art rather than preaching only to the converted – but we should also keep
preaching to the converted too so that they stay excited about what’s happening and continue to support it.
Looking at venues, there aren’t a ton of venues for poetry or for music either in Ottawa; a couple of mainstays from
when I lived there about 4 years back are still there today, but some venues I loved have keeled and not necessarily
been replaced – partly because if we mistakenly perpetuate the complaint that the arts scene sucks to everyone
indiscriminately but don’t articulate why (that it’s funding issues rather than talent issues, that it’s good but could be
better, etc), fewer people bother to check it out or support it, even though there’s a lot going on underground
downtown that folks in the suburbs who don’t read the streetpaper (or know where to look if they do) don’t even know
about. (Same goes for Calgary – I’m certain there must be tons of people with artistic tendencies that assume
nothing’s happening and don’t find out about it, so they stay home and watch Idol and listen to top 40 radio. We have
to reach these folks). There is some minor psychology involved here that is useful to pay attention to.
The media is particularly inattentive in Ottawa. Even the Fast Forward type paper, the Xpress, has until fairly recently
ignored lit arts for the most part. You’d be more likely to find out about local poetry by coming across an above/ground
press Poem leaflet left on a table or counter somewhere. The ignorance from the press probably encourages the
small press but it would be nice to have a strong representation from both. In Calgary, Fast Forward is pretty good
with people like Kirstin Kosloski and Alvy Singer and Mark Hopkins and Peter Hemminger (and Martin Morrow before
him) writing about arts faithfully. Herald is getting better with Swerve spots on local things by Mark Hamilton or
Shelley Arnush. BeatRoute, the local monthly, let me write a local books roundup in their Best of 2006 issue – turns
out they just don’t write about local writers because no one has asked or taken an interest. They’d given some
positive coverage to the first MultiArts too, which was wonderful and unexpected.
And there are always a few people doing more than the rest of the folks and taking a leadership role about making
things happen and spreading the word. Not everyone realizes how much they do and lends enough support. In
Ottawa, a poet called rob mclennan is the most active experimental poet but he supports all kinds of writing. He runs
the Factory Reading Series and Poetry 101, one at a nightclub and one at a gallery. He also looks after the vitality of
the Small Press Bookfair through SPAN-O, the Small Press Action Network Ottawa that is basically a group of
dedicated volunteers organized by rob that spread the word about small press doings. K.L. McKay, who now lives in
Edmonton was running a regular poetry / music open mic with Trevor Tchir at a café on the Ottawa U campus and
she was doing (and still is doing) SPIRE Poetry Poster. A lot of new writers and musicians got their start there. Some
university professors were or are supportive, like Seymour Mayne, who started a press, and In Words and the
Carleton Arts Review, university student produced magazines. The University papers have poetry contests that help
get the students’ attention a bit. An older honour guard of poets revolves around the Sasquatch Reading Series,
presided over for years by a nice old guy named Juan O’Neill, a translator with a lot of travel stories and a fedora who
was a really wonderful character but who has since passed on. One of the first events I planned was a fundraiser at a
legion to help him get by after a heart attack. Another series called TREE is also over 10 years old, happening in the
same pub basement as Sasquatch and catering to the young hip writers but open to various styles. Single Onion in
Calgary is probably the TREE equivalent, with a nice long history, Canada Council supported featured readers from
out of town along with local features and an open mic portion (Single Onion replaces that with a musical performance
of some type though). They have a Spanish language series in Ottawa called El Dorado that’s really happening and
has been around forever. You’d get to hear real Flamenco guitarists between sets. I met an amorous Spanish-
studying Frenchman there when I was 19 or so and traveled with him to France and Turkey before our relationship
imploded over communication barriers (I thought my French was decent until I went to France..). They had a SLAM
series in Ottawa called Capital Slam, which is still happening, and presided over by a crew led by Oni the Haitian
Sensation and used to involve Kris Northey.
In Calgary we have Sheri-D for spoken word events like the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival (CISWF) and
the Slam. Derek Beaulieu and Natalie Walschots encourage innovative experimental writing through filling Station, a
locally produced, nationally distributed literary and arts magazine put together by a core group of volunteers who
mostly met during school at the University of Calgary. A few of those folks have now moved away though, including
Jason Christie and Andrea Ryer (gone to Montreal) and Colin Martin and Ashleigh Delaye (gone to Vancouver), but
relatively new blood are helping keep it going. filling Station now has an annual Festival called the Blow-Out that
includes bands like Hot Little Rocket and Russian Artist Factory alongside writers either living in Calgary or with a
former Calgary connection which are brought into town. They also included some spoken word and film and drama
last year. Also coming out the University is the English Literature Students Society, who have become increasingly
active with events and events promoting, and two more great mags, dANDelion Magazine (also nationally distributed)
and NoD (a great effort gaining more and more momentum who have put on some really fun launches). People like
Moe Clark and Shone Abet and Sabo and [Kirk Ramdath] (the current SLAM Team) and Leif Baradoy and Rhett
Sovereign (who started their own series at Studio Cafe) and [Kirk Ramdath] (doing Eleventh Transmission and
helping with the Red Mile Revenge series) and Selina Clary (Red Mile Revenge) and those behind the new Thought
Express Festival are meeting the need for grassroots arts advocacy and events and pitching in. I’m really happy to
see Ian Kinney (who recently did well at your Slam Fundraiser) starting an open mic at Oolong in Kensington. For
some reason there aren’t open mics for poetry here, not as much as other places, though there are reading series
that occasionally incorporate them such as SLAM events or CISWF events. I think open mics are a great way to get
new people interested in writing because they would have the chance to try things out on a crowd and find a
supportive environment. Anyone could wander into a bar or café and happen upon it and find out about it and get
involved.
The Ottawa International Writers Festival is a little more connected with the local scene and a slight bit more creative
than Wordfest seems to be here. They are ingenious about including local poets and use them alongside bigtime
visiting poets or have them head up workshops. That way they’re not creating bad feelings by excluding people and
ignoring what happens the rest of the year (which is partly responsible for their own audience, so it follows). Sean
and Neil Wilson are the dad and son team responsible for that. Once they even put together this Via Rail tour sending
Ottawa poets and Writer’s Fest guest poets across the country to read at little obscure towns with little bookstores
and great big venues like Harbourfront. The documentary was amazing and they screened it at one of the festivals.
They started in PEI, dipping this journal in the ocean, and wrote in it all the way across Canada giving readings
wherever they stopped, finally dipping it in the ocean again in Victoria. Scenes included David McGimpsey playing
guitar on the train, Stuart Ross skulking around in graveyards, all the poets sitting on a carpet at someone’s house
eating curry, they stayed all over during the tour… you could really see them bonding as they went along. They also
encorporate other sorts of artforms into the festival, including film; they had Deepa Mehta in attendance the same year
they screened that doc. The emphasis remains on the writing so they’re not taking the risk of diluting focus
overmuch. It was always easy to go hang out at the courtesy suite after Writers Fest events in Ottawa with the big
poets when I was like 19 and those were super inspiring debacles, chilling out with rob and jwcurry and the local
posse as usual, but having discussions with Susan Musgrave or Dennis Lee or Stuart Ross or Robert Krotsch. There
are some crazy stories I could tell involving a giant cardboard cut out of Sandra Bullock someone found outside the
suite, and finding out Christopher Dewdney is an absolute disgusting manpig undeserving of the esteem of any self
respecting females. Exquisite corpses were created in the adjoining room of the Courtesy Suite which became
jwcurry’s Oniom studio throughout the festival where he ran an old fashioned handcrank press and all the visitors
would wander in and compose a poem on typewriter for inclusion in the resultant Instant Anthology, bringing to mind
the Toronto Small Press Book Fair Instant Anthologies.
One thing we need in Calgary are small press fairs. Not that many people are making chapbooks or other ephemeral
do-it-yourself publishing, partly because there isn’t a Small Press Fair, but there isn’t a Small Press Fair because too
few are doing small press. The mysterious No. press puts out chapbooks, and filling Station produces the
occasional one. Ross Priddle has now moved to town and puts great little books together. He just started a Calgary
version so I’ve hopes he’ll raise some eyebrows. Word on the Street happened a couple years back at the Barracks
but I think it’s defunct? That’s a great time too, with mags big and small having tables and related vendors (like Lilac
Fest) and music and tents for readings by visiting authors that presses will send to support their booth.
How has your take on the Calgary arts scene changed over time?
The more I find out about what’s happening in Calgary, the more affection I have for it. Everyone shares this passion
about their art and supporting one another’s art, but many people are still working in microcosms and don’t know
each other. It makes me all the more interested in getting folks together from all facets as much as possible, so they
aren’t wondering what the others are thinking about them and instead becoming a larger community and a force even
more difficult for the public to ignore. It’s very Canadian to think provincially rather than nationally, not just about
geography but about everything. Similarly, Canada’s considered a mosaic society whereas the States are a melting
pot. I certainly don’t want to encourage a mosaic to become a melting pot when it comes to wanting to bring separate
arts ‘tiles’ together to form one community. I think that’s another thing we’re afraid of: losing identity and gaining
sameness by fraternizing with other artforms and genres. But I think we would be able to stay a mosaic, we just have
to realize all the tiles come together to form the whole. We think we’re working in separate solitudes but the bigger
picture is that we’re all in this together and we may as well support one another for the good of everyone. It’s sort of
communistic, but moreover, certainly a socialist way to look at the arts community. All manifestations of imagination
are interesting and worthwhile.
Calgary has the lowest per-capita arts funding of any major city in Canada. This is a significant challenge both to
developing and retaining a high quality of art. Is a do-it-yourself approach like Multi-Arts the best solution?
Again, I don’t equate funding with quality, but it does affect how big your events can be and how much money you will
have to spread the word about them. The internet has been a big help in getting the word out, and I still love making
posters and handbills and trying to get coverage from street papers and campus radio stations like CJSW. Getting
together a group of dedicated volunteers to make those things happen is essential. These are really low budget,
grassroots alternatives to paid ads and glossy programmes. Another alterative is trying to get support from folks most
likely to want to help – other independent operations who know what it’s like to try to get the underground above
ground. But we can’t ignore opportunities to try to get funding, to let the government know we exist and could use it,
and find out about what’s there because a lot of people don’t even know how to become eligible for funding and how
to become a contender versus all the other folks trying for it. Do as much research as possible. We’ll be much more
effective in letter writing and petitions and things if we really know what we’re talking about too, rather than getting on a
bandwagon that might be led by the ill-informed. Knowledge is power.
What are your future plans for the development of the Multi-Arts event? For instance, a Multi-Arts festival?
I’ve been thinking about that. I think the next step should have maybe been the first step: I want to start a regular
multiarts open mic series where the best folks from that will be those who are showcased with fanfare in the Variety
Shows. An all-artforms, all-genres series. This will probably happen at Soda too but I haven’t approached D about it
yet. I had this idea recently so I think I’ll look at it after September’s events are done. There’s no reason in my mind
why this wouldn’t fly in Calgary with the interest we’ve had in multiarts and with so many people hoping to get
involved.
So far, what kind of artists have performed at Multi-Arts events? Are there any other kind of performances,
such as dance, that you hope to include one day?
So far, we’ve had bands, solo musicians, poets of all types, drama folks, and filmmakers. I would definitely be open
to adding new forms, I’ve been thinking about crazy stuff like burlesque or circus performers like fire jugglers, but the
permits would be a little hard to get! Dance would be more obtainable. I don’t currently have any connections in the
dance scene so I’ll have to work on that. Also I’d love to get some audience-involved improv happening. The next
Variety Show is adding a very interesting freestyle DJ that Moe Clark sent my way named Leif Olsen. He’ll be visiting
from Ottawa so that’ll be a rare treat. I’m open to all sorts of suggestions, and hoping that from the occasional
volunteers for MultiArts will spring a core group that will be involved in the planning alongside myself and help bring
new forms to the table.
What are some of the artistic projects that you are involved in?
Right now, I’m General Editor for filling Station Magazine, and I’m helping out a bit with their Blow Out Festival. With
my new husband Gareth, I’m playing bass and singing back up in Lonely Hunters; we recently had an album out that’
s been crawling up the campus charts across the land, and CDs are available at Megatunes, Sloth, and Hot Wax if
you don’t mind me plugging it! I’m also learning to play stand up bass for my friend Dylan Sadlier-Brown’s band
Mercury Audio. I have a ton of my own material too but haven’t been giving myself enough time to work on it. I
desperately want to start my own indie rock pop type band. As usual I’m volunteering for lots of arts organizations
around town, and writing reviews and interviews for BeatRoute and filling Station, working on poetry manuscripts, and
generally keeping myself a little too busy for my own good at times. It’s just so easy to get caught up in all the great
things happening. Once you’re aware of the quality of what’s going on, and how much is going on, you don’t want to
miss a thing.
Multi-Arts Variety Show 3!
Kirk Ramdath interviews Multi-Arts organizer Laurie Fuhr. The show is Saturday, September 22, 2007, 7:30 pm at
Soda (211 12 St SW). Tickets at the Megatunes and Pages in Kensington. www.myspace.com/calgarymultiarts.
Volunteers still needed! Email lauriefuhr@yahoo.ca.
What inspired you to create the Multi-Arts event, and what are you ultimately hoping to accomplish?
MultiArts first came together sort of by accident. Two friends from Ottawa moved to Edmonton and I wanted to get
them a show. Trevor Tchir is a musician, and Kristy (K.L.) McKay is a poet. I thought they could piggyback on another
bill but I couldn’t find anything. So I started putting the show together, and I thought, why not make it as interesting as
possible. I was volunteering for Wordfest and the Slam and filling Station Magazine so I had made a few
connections. I started booking bands and solo musicians and a drama troupe (Swallow a Bicycle) and poets of all
genres. Meanwhile, there was a visual art show on the walls at the time, curated by Reagan Dahlseide, so it was
neat to have so many artforms represented. I found out the venue could support film, so I asked my filmmaking friend
Garth who is Film Editor for filling Station if he might be willing to show some films. Then about a week before the
show, Kristy realized she couldn’t even come because she had a class in Edmonton that day that was pertinent to an
exam and she just couldn’t miss it, and Trevor couldn’t come because he’d be taking their car away. So here I had
this great big show set up for them and they couldn’t make it, but by then it had gotten bigger than that and there was
no way I would cancel. It had become a veritable Celebration of Calgary’s Imagination as I’ve been billing it.
I was really nervous about whether people would come, and did all the advertising I could, but it’s always iffy when you’
re trying something new. Thankfully, the response was terrific, almost overwhelming. The place was packed with
poets, musicians, filmmakers, drama folks and their fans, all milling about, enjoying the show together, chatting and
networking. I saw what a great opportunity it was to bring together the disparate, separate arts scenes in Calgary into
one big supportive community. So many people didn’t know that these other scenes existed and here they were,
creating art side by side. People just get caught up in one thing and put the blinders on, but it’s way more interesting,
especially when you’re an artistic person, to multitask and be interested in all the means and mediums the
imagination can manifest itself. It’s incredibly inspiring no matter what type of art you practice or are interested in.
Not only that, but the show raises money that’s split between performers and Inn from the Cold, which is a local
charity that houses entire homeless families. Through involvement with CHAI, the Calgary Housing Action Initiative, I
was more than aware of the need suffered by the different groups trying to deal with the affordable housing crisis and
the serious lack of shelters. By bringing people together in support of a single cause, not only does it support that
worthy cause, but there’s a good feeling there that manifests itself collectively and makes people even more open to
connecting with one another. D, who runs the Soda, has been so important to the development of Calgary MultiArts
Variety Shows, which are now every six months. He’s very encouraging of local artists, he doesn’t ask for a cut, and
he was the one who suggested a charity donation in the first place. He was open to all my ideas and to taking a
chance on this. The people that work there are terrific too, including Morley, the soundman who has worked each
show. Volunteers have been really important to the success of the events. Also some minor sponsors who have
allowed us to sell tickets or who have provided giveaways like Megatunes, Pages Books on Kensington, and Flemish
Eye Records have really helped to spread the word and increase our profile in people’s eyes by association. The first
two are independent stores valuable to the health of independent art, and Flemish Eye puts out the Cape May and
Chad VanGaalen, two of the most original and amazing music acts in town. They’ll also be putting out The
Summerlad’s new album. So the music nerd in me was thrilled to have them on board. Finally, Sandy Lam, a
graphic designer and friend who has been Visual Editor at filling Station, who does the posters for filling Station’s
Blow Out Festival (coming up on September 14-15) and who even did the art for Lonely Hunters first CD (the band I
play bass in) has been making these beautiful and hip posters for us with octopus or squids appearing to terrorize
the city. Some people put posters down, see it as too much trouble, and don’t really figure it brings people in.
Personally I love the tradition, the perfect image gives you an idea about the event before you go and sets a mood for it
in your mind. And I’m someone who’s out there walking around, taking transit, and seeing the posters, so they’re still
valid for me as a means to find out what’s going on, even if you’re in too big a hurry to pick up the paper at times.
Uppercase Gallery in Art Central had a poster show a few months back where Woodpigeon and Aaron Booth
supported the opening. The diversity of the work was fantastic, the way it played off band names or ignored them and
picked some image on the extreme other end of the spectrum. That show made another solid case for the validity of
poster as artform in my mind.
If i recall correctly, you're not from around these parts. What were your first impressions of the Calgary arts
scene?
I lived all over because my dad was military. Ottawa and Winnipeg were the other big city artscenes I’ve been mixed
up in, most actively with poetry but as a musician and grassroots events planner and volunteer too. In Ottawa and
Winnipeg, supporting the arts was like rooting for the underdog. I have always felt that you should emphasize all that’
s happening and how great it is and not concentrate on what lacks, because people will believe it – the spectators
won’t think they should care to come out and spectate, and the artists get discouraged. Like the rest of life, you
should be grateful for what you have not wallow in what you don’t have because then you can’t enjoy what you’ve got.
Calgary’s arts participation, audiences, arts output (albums, books, events, etc) and number of supportive venues are
definitely the most vital of the three cities. I did visit Toronto a couple of times and Montreal quite often because I had
a poet friend living there and at the time, and they used to have a carpooling company called Allo Stop that could get
you from Ottawa to Montreal for $10 each way (the bus company found some loophole in the law and got them
shutdown, the monopolistic jerks. Now it costs about $80 each way). I wasn’t able to get much sense of Toronto’s
scene aside from the hype, and the readings I happened to do there were at small, expensive venues with equally
small audiences. But Montreal was really inspiring. They’re very positive about the worth of the arts and they’re
creative about events and creative about getting people to come. I participated in some events in Montreal that had
musicians and poets together. The audiences for both came out and got to be fans of both scenes, therefore
doubling everyone’s audience. So artform-crossing and genre-crossing makes sense as a breath of life for the
vitality of the arts community as a whole, plus the more things you have happening at an event, and the more diverse
the crowd, the more energy there is and the more fun it can be. Plus for some reason they loved the shit out of my
underdeveloped oddball lyric poetry so that definitely made me feel good about Montreal! Plus they just seem to be
more openhearted, it’s part of the culture. Strangers come over and kiss you once on each cheek like in France, they’
re just happy to meet other poets. Maybe that’s part of why I don’t meet too many Montrealaise coming to visit
Calgary. If they tried to get friendly over here, they’d be liable to get punched.
How does it compare to where you are originally from?
Calgary’s scene seems more and less vital than Ottawa’s depending the angle you’re coming from.
In terms of arts infrastructure, City Council in Ottawa places so much emphasis on the National Gallery and the
National Museum of Photography near Chateau Laurier and the Poet Laureate and related big-business-supported,
media-attention-generating national arts interests like that that there doesn’t seem to be much budget or political
interest invested in the local arts scene. It’s like the Council doesn’t even know about it. Every now and then the City
will try an initiative or other to ‘revitalize’ the arts, completely ignoring what’s already in place and people who have
been working hard for years. Some arty folk get mad and others write letters asking to cooperate. Mostly the City
ignores the local scene though. Poets probably make the most noise about that and occasionally petition the various
levels of government for more support. I think the per capita spending on arts is something like 0.02 cents per head.
They were successful a few years back when a guy named Steve Artelle, who has also put on the Dusty Owl Reading
Series for years (the first poetry event I ever happened upon) gathered support together and got a Poets Walk
installed that runs through the big cemetery in the centre of town and takes you past the graves of famous Ottawa
poets like Archibald Lampman. They even have readings there sometimes. It seems a bit creepy but it was after my
time in Ottawa so I’ve never been. Still, every little thing helps raise the profile of poetry somewhat, the simple
awareness that it is there.
Wherever you go though, there are creative minds doing interesting things, no matter how much support there is.
There’s no dearth of talent anywhere, but it’s harder to find their work and find out about them when there’s less going
on that the public can see and feel, and I think that fewer young people get interested in the idea of becoming artists.
So it really is important to keep making noise about the importance of funding and keep trying to get new people
interested in supporting art and making art rather than preaching only to the converted – but we should also keep
preaching to the converted too so that they stay excited about what’s happening and continue to support it.
Looking at venues, there aren’t a ton of venues for poetry or for music either in Ottawa; a couple of mainstays from
when I lived there about 4 years back are still there today, but some venues I loved have keeled and not necessarily
been replaced – partly because if we mistakenly perpetuate the complaint that the arts scene sucks to everyone
indiscriminately but don’t articulate why (that it’s funding issues rather than talent issues, that it’s good but could be
better, etc), fewer people bother to check it out or support it, even though there’s a lot going on underground
downtown that folks in the suburbs who don’t read the streetpaper (or know where to look if they do) don’t even know
about. (Same goes for Calgary – I’m certain there must be tons of people with artistic tendencies that assume
nothing’s happening and don’t find out about it, so they stay home and watch Idol and listen to top 40 radio. We have
to reach these folks). There is some minor psychology involved here that is useful to pay attention to.
The media is particularly inattentive in Ottawa. Even the Fast Forward type paper, the Xpress, has until fairly recently
ignored lit arts for the most part. You’d be more likely to find out about local poetry by coming across an above/ground
press Poem leaflet left on a table or counter somewhere. The ignorance from the press probably encourages the
small press but it would be nice to have a strong representation from both. In Calgary, Fast Forward is pretty good
with people like Kirstin Kosloski and Alvy Singer and Mark Hopkins and Peter Hemminger (and Martin Morrow before
him) writing about arts faithfully. Herald is getting better with Swerve spots on local things by Mark Hamilton or
Shelley Arnush. BeatRoute, the local monthly, let me write a local books roundup in their Best of 2006 issue – turns
out they just don’t write about local writers because no one has asked or taken an interest. They’d given some
positive coverage to the first MultiArts too, which was wonderful and unexpected.
And there are always a few people doing more than the rest of the folks and taking a leadership role about making
things happen and spreading the word. Not everyone realizes how much they do and lends enough support. In
Ottawa, a poet called rob mclennan is the most active experimental poet but he supports all kinds of writing. He runs
the Factory Reading Series and Poetry 101, one at a nightclub and one at a gallery. He also looks after the vitality of
the Small Press Bookfair through SPAN-O, the Small Press Action Network Ottawa that is basically a group of
dedicated volunteers organized by rob that spread the word about small press doings. K.L. McKay, who now lives in
Edmonton was running a regular poetry / music open mic with Trevor Tchir at a café on the Ottawa U campus and
she was doing (and still is doing) SPIRE Poetry Poster. A lot of new writers and musicians got their start there. Some
university professors were or are supportive, like Seymour Mayne, who started a press, and In Words and the
Carleton Arts Review, university student produced magazines. The University papers have poetry contests that help
get the students’ attention a bit. An older honour guard of poets revolves around the Sasquatch Reading Series,
presided over for years by a nice old guy named Juan O’Neill, a translator with a lot of travel stories and a fedora who
was a really wonderful character but who has since passed on. One of the first events I planned was a fundraiser at a
legion to help him get by after a heart attack. Another series called TREE is also over 10 years old, happening in the
same pub basement as Sasquatch and catering to the young hip writers but open to various styles. Single Onion in
Calgary is probably the TREE equivalent, with a nice long history, Canada Council supported featured readers from
out of town along with local features and an open mic portion (Single Onion replaces that with a musical performance
of some type though). They have a Spanish language series in Ottawa called El Dorado that’s really happening and
has been around forever. You’d get to hear real Flamenco guitarists between sets. I met an amorous Spanish-
studying Frenchman there when I was 19 or so and traveled with him to France and Turkey before our relationship
imploded over communication barriers (I thought my French was decent until I went to France..). They had a SLAM
series in Ottawa called Capital Slam, which is still happening, and presided over by a crew led by Oni the Haitian
Sensation and used to involve Kris Northey.
In Calgary we have Sheri-D for spoken word events like the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival (CISWF) and
the Slam. Derek Beaulieu and Natalie Walschots encourage innovative experimental writing through filling Station, a
locally produced, nationally distributed literary and arts magazine put together by a core group of volunteers who
mostly met during school at the University of Calgary. A few of those folks have now moved away though, including
Jason Christie and Andrea Ryer (gone to Montreal) and Colin Martin and Ashleigh Delaye (gone to Vancouver), but
relatively new blood are helping keep it going. filling Station now has an annual Festival called the Blow-Out that
includes bands like Hot Little Rocket and Russian Artist Factory alongside writers either living in Calgary or with a
former Calgary connection which are brought into town. They also included some spoken word and film and drama
last year. Also coming out the University is the English Literature Students Society, who have become increasingly
active with events and events promoting, and two more great mags, dANDelion Magazine (also nationally distributed)
and NoD (a great effort gaining more and more momentum who have put on some really fun launches). People like
Moe Clark and Shone Abet and Sabo and [Kirk Ramdath] (the current SLAM Team) and Leif Baradoy and Rhett
Sovereign (who started their own series at Studio Cafe) and [Kirk Ramdath] (doing Eleventh Transmission and
helping with the Red Mile Revenge series) and Selina Clary (Red Mile Revenge) and those behind the new Thought
Express Festival are meeting the need for grassroots arts advocacy and events and pitching in. I’m really happy to
see Ian Kinney (who recently did well at your Slam Fundraiser) starting an open mic at Oolong in Kensington. For
some reason there aren’t open mics for poetry here, not as much as other places, though there are reading series
that occasionally incorporate them such as SLAM events or CISWF events. I think open mics are a great way to get
new people interested in writing because they would have the chance to try things out on a crowd and find a
supportive environment. Anyone could wander into a bar or café and happen upon it and find out about it and get
involved.
The Ottawa International Writers Festival is a little more connected with the local scene and a slight bit more creative
than Wordfest seems to be here. They are ingenious about including local poets and use them alongside bigtime
visiting poets or have them head up workshops. That way they’re not creating bad feelings by excluding people and
ignoring what happens the rest of the year (which is partly responsible for their own audience, so it follows). Sean
and Neil Wilson are the dad and son team responsible for that. Once they even put together this Via Rail tour sending
Ottawa poets and Writer’s Fest guest poets across the country to read at little obscure towns with little bookstores
and great big venues like Harbourfront. The documentary was amazing and they screened it at one of the festivals.
They started in PEI, dipping this journal in the ocean, and wrote in it all the way across Canada giving readings
wherever they stopped, finally dipping it in the ocean again in Victoria. Scenes included David McGimpsey playing
guitar on the train, Stuart Ross skulking around in graveyards, all the poets sitting on a carpet at someone’s house
eating curry, they stayed all over during the tour… you could really see them bonding as they went along. They also
encorporate other sorts of artforms into the festival, including film; they had Deepa Mehta in attendance the same year
they screened that doc. The emphasis remains on the writing so they’re not taking the risk of diluting focus
overmuch. It was always easy to go hang out at the courtesy suite after Writers Fest events in Ottawa with the big
poets when I was like 19 and those were super inspiring debacles, chilling out with rob and jwcurry and the local
posse as usual, but having discussions with Susan Musgrave or Dennis Lee or Stuart Ross or Robert Krotsch. There
are some crazy stories I could tell involving a giant cardboard cut out of Sandra Bullock someone found outside the
suite, and finding out Christopher Dewdney is an absolute disgusting manpig undeserving of the esteem of any self
respecting females. Exquisite corpses were created in the adjoining room of the Courtesy Suite which became
jwcurry’s Oniom studio throughout the festival where he ran an old fashioned handcrank press and all the visitors
would wander in and compose a poem on typewriter for inclusion in the resultant Instant Anthology, bringing to mind
the Toronto Small Press Book Fair Instant Anthologies.
One thing we need in Calgary are small press fairs. Not that many people are making chapbooks or other ephemeral
do-it-yourself publishing, partly because there isn’t a Small Press Fair, but there isn’t a Small Press Fair because too
few are doing small press. The mysterious No. press puts out chapbooks, and filling Station produces the
occasional one. Ross Priddle has now moved to town and puts great little books together. He just started a Calgary
version so I’ve hopes he’ll raise some eyebrows. Word on the Street happened a couple years back at the Barracks
but I think it’s defunct? That’s a great time too, with mags big and small having tables and related vendors (like Lilac
Fest) and music and tents for readings by visiting authors that presses will send to support their booth.
How has your take on the Calgary arts scene changed over time?
The more I find out about what’s happening in Calgary, the more affection I have for it. Everyone shares this passion
about their art and supporting one another’s art, but many people are still working in microcosms and don’t know
each other. It makes me all the more interested in getting folks together from all facets as much as possible, so they
aren’t wondering what the others are thinking about them and instead becoming a larger community and a force even
more difficult for the public to ignore. It’s very Canadian to think provincially rather than nationally, not just about
geography but about everything. Similarly, Canada’s considered a mosaic society whereas the States are a melting
pot. I certainly don’t want to encourage a mosaic to become a melting pot when it comes to wanting to bring separate
arts ‘tiles’ together to form one community. I think that’s another thing we’re afraid of: losing identity and gaining
sameness by fraternizing with other artforms and genres. But I think we would be able to stay a mosaic, we just have
to realize all the tiles come together to form the whole. We think we’re working in separate solitudes but the bigger
picture is that we’re all in this together and we may as well support one another for the good of everyone. It’s sort of
communistic, but moreover, certainly a socialist way to look at the arts community. All manifestations of imagination
are interesting and worthwhile.
Calgary has the lowest per-capita arts funding of any major city in Canada. This is a significant challenge both to
developing and retaining a high quality of art. Is a do-it-yourself approach like Multi-Arts the best solution?
Again, I don’t equate funding with quality, but it does affect how big your events can be and how much money you will
have to spread the word about them. The internet has been a big help in getting the word out, and I still love making
posters and handbills and trying to get coverage from street papers and campus radio stations like CJSW. Getting
together a group of dedicated volunteers to make those things happen is essential. These are really low budget,
grassroots alternatives to paid ads and glossy programmes. Another alterative is trying to get support from folks most
likely to want to help – other independent operations who know what it’s like to try to get the underground above
ground. But we can’t ignore opportunities to try to get funding, to let the government know we exist and could use it,
and find out about what’s there because a lot of people don’t even know how to become eligible for funding and how
to become a contender versus all the other folks trying for it. Do as much research as possible. We’ll be much more
effective in letter writing and petitions and things if we really know what we’re talking about too, rather than getting on a
bandwagon that might be led by the ill-informed. Knowledge is power.
What are your future plans for the development of the Multi-Arts event? For instance, a Multi-Arts festival?
I’ve been thinking about that. I think the next step should have maybe been the first step: I want to start a regular
multiarts open mic series where the best folks from that will be those who are showcased with fanfare in the Variety
Shows. An all-artforms, all-genres series. This will probably happen at Soda too but I haven’t approached D about it
yet. I had this idea recently so I think I’ll look at it after September’s events are done. There’s no reason in my mind
why this wouldn’t fly in Calgary with the interest we’ve had in multiarts and with so many people hoping to get
involved.
So far, what kind of artists have performed at Multi-Arts events? Are there any other kind of performances,
such as dance, that you hope to include one day?
So far, we’ve had bands, solo musicians, poets of all types, drama folks, and filmmakers. I would definitely be open
to adding new forms, I’ve been thinking about crazy stuff like burlesque or circus performers like fire jugglers, but the
permits would be a little hard to get! Dance would be more obtainable. I don’t currently have any connections in the
dance scene so I’ll have to work on that. Also I’d love to get some audience-involved improv happening. The next
Variety Show is adding a very interesting freestyle DJ that Moe Clark sent my way named Leif Olsen. He’ll be visiting
from Ottawa so that’ll be a rare treat. I’m open to all sorts of suggestions, and hoping that from the occasional
volunteers for MultiArts will spring a core group that will be involved in the planning alongside myself and help bring
new forms to the table.
What are some of the artistic projects that you are involved in?
Right now, I’m General Editor for filling Station Magazine, and I’m helping out a bit with their Blow Out Festival. With
my new husband Gareth, I’m playing bass and singing back up in Lonely Hunters; we recently had an album out that’
s been crawling up the campus charts across the land, and CDs are available at Megatunes, Sloth, and Hot Wax if
you don’t mind me plugging it! I’m also learning to play stand up bass for my friend Dylan Sadlier-Brown’s band
Mercury Audio. I have a ton of my own material too but haven’t been giving myself enough time to work on it. I
desperately want to start my own indie rock pop type band. As usual I’m volunteering for lots of arts organizations
around town, and writing reviews and interviews for BeatRoute and filling Station, working on poetry manuscripts, and
generally keeping myself a little too busy for my own good at times. It’s just so easy to get caught up in all the great
things happening. Once you’re aware of the quality of what’s going on, and how much is going on, you don’t want to
miss a thing.
Laurie Fuhr and her
band, Lonely Hunters.
band, Lonely Hunters.