Discussion Report

# 13

Topic - Art spaces: working and/or living and/or collaborating sustainably

When I do collaborations, it messes me up. Its a good thing. E. Langley

Initiator - Katia Grubisic Participants - Chuck Childs, June Park, Elizabeth Langley, Allison Burns, Elise Moser, Patrick Goddard, Mathieu Perron, Lori Schubert (govt: Helen Meredith, Charles Taker) Discussion Key Points - What are the community / communities needs for work space, for living space (shared or owned or co-oped) and what special needs might be identified or anticipated; - other similar projects: Artspace Toronto, PALS (Cdn Actors Equity), Espace Libre, Benny Farm, Les Ecuries, Griffintown artist rental apartment project; -existing resources: Caisse Desjardins de la Culture, QDF real-estate consultant, space mentors; - related questions / issues: technical, infrastructural needs; municipal and zoning issues; environmental issues; attracting developers / investors; the results of gentrification; extent of the benefit to the community; fiscal responsibility and perils of ownership / co-ownership. The group discussed the possibilities, needs and perceived challenges involved in founding and sustaining spaces for artists to live and / or work. The salient point that arose was the need for time and securitymore than increased funding, more than structured collaborations, more than any strategic questions, the individual artist needs to know she wont get kicked out of her studio, he needs to know he wont have to take on three extra cement-laying contracts to make his rent. They need to know the community at large values them, their presence and their work, and they need to know what the arts communities resources are, and how those resources can best be shared. This issue was raised in part because it seems timely; Montreal seems to be riding a gentrification wave, and to be approaching a socio-economic tipping point at which cultural capital is being squashed by a purely economic bottom line. The session did not identify that individuals felt strongly that they wanted to spearhead a live- work artlandia initiative (despite our attempts to nominate Chuck Childs). However, the following points arose: - The need to do any infrastructure or space / resource sharing initiatives to involve the Francophone institutions and individuals; - the importance of foregrounding specific needs and meeting them in a gradual, organic and collaborative manner; - the recognition that chaos is an inevitability if not a requirement of collaboration, and the

Discussion Report
underlying mantra that destabilizationwhat messes us upis why we create.

p.