By 2013, with the help of some great community partners and a few amazing arts grants, our team of five or six unpaid volunteers had put together some great events.

Credit for this amazing photo goes to Cat Laine. Click here to see her website.

But what has to happen to make the Night Markets happen? They don't just run themselves.

Stringing up lights: You need lights at a Night Market, and that means someone has to put them up. Here's Meg walking the walk - she doesn't just dream up creative artsy pop-up events, she also does more than her share of the heavy lifting!

Unloading supplies and putting up signs: We do that too. And this all has to happen on the afternoon of the market. Even if it's raining. So time is of the essence!

Operating heavy machinery: This is a portable light tower that gets set up at each market to shine some light on the street. It has to be assembled and taken down at each market!!!

Decorating: Banners, chalk drawing, sandwich boards. Even if you're five years old, we'd be happy to have you come out and help us decorate!

Manning the information tent: This job is always fun. So many nice folks show up to keep us company at the find it tent. This could be you!

The Perks: We have to take everything down at the end of the night, too. That can be hard work, after a long evening. But last time we did this, a Mexican mariachi band stuck around to play for us while we took down the tents and cleaned up the street! Is there anywhere else in Calgary where you could enjoy something like this? (If there is, please tell me about it!)

So, now that you know what we need, I know you'll want to send us a note right away to [email protected] and sign up to come lend a hand on Friday, September 12th. But don't stop there. I hope you might also want to help us make the market happen again in 2015 and beyond. We've had an overwhelmingly positive response to the event - Calgarians love it! And we'd love to keep it going past this year. But this volunteer in particular isn't sure she'll be able to keep this up. With a job and two little kids, I just don't have the time to contribute to our team (and I haven't actually even been doing a whole lot, beyond making the find it website, doing some promotions, and helping on the day of the market).

When we started find it, we were dreaming of doing all sorts of different cool artsy creative events. This summer, we've spent most of our time running the Night Market. We did it, and we loved doing it... but, at least on a volunteer basis, we can't keep doing this forever. Would you like to help? You would? Let us know! Come talk to us at the find it tent on Friday, at what we hope won't be the last Inglewood Night Market. We need you!

I was lucky enough today to take in Calgary Opera's boisterous  pop-up performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance in the East Village. My grandfather was a big fan of Gilbert & Sullivan, so not only did his children grow up hearing their music, I did too. It's some of the music that's permanently stored in my head - in fact, I may be the only person who ever performed a song from The Pirates of Penzance at the Ship & Anchor's open jam (and that's probably just as well).

As soon as I took my seat at the piratical operatic tent, I wished I'd brought my sketchbook so that I could draw some pictures of the whole experience. A bit later, I decided I was glad just to enjoy the show. However, some of the things I would have liked to draw were: the view of the C-Train rolling across the Bow River overpass just behind the performers; the shadows of seagulls skimming above, seen through the roof of the tent; the fact that the music playing through the speakers in the adjacent fancy port-a-potties was the Papageno/Papagena duet from Die Zauberfloete (you've just gotta love that!); and the faces of the audience, some of whom were clearly longtime fans (like myself) and others who were cracking up at W. S. Gilbert's lyrics for the first time.

Some folks may not realize how deeply those lyrics have permeated western culture. For example, I love the fact that famous sci-fi author Isaac Asimov was crazy about Gilbert & Sullivan, and actually couldn't resist slipping a few lyrics into his works of fiction. It's somewhere in the Foundation series (all my books are in boxes right now, or I'd go dig it up for ya), in which he writes that someone has "journeyed for a month, or nearly..." - clearly a nod to Nanki-Poo's line in The Mikado: "So, have I journeyed for a month, or nearly/To find that Yum-Yum, whom I love so dearly..." (Well, I've never confirmed that, but there's no doubt in my mind. Anyway, how could you confirm that?) Another (more well-known) instance of this music finding a place in popular culture, is "The Elements," a really incredible spinoff of the Major-General's fast-paced tongue-twister of a song (from "Pirates") which was written and performed by satirist Tom Lehrer. And of course anyone who's read Margaret Mahy can tell that she grew up steeped in Gilbert & Sullivan - and here's my homage to that (she actually sang "The Elements" the one time I met her in person.) Ok, but I digress, as usual.

I drew some pictures of The Pirates in the Drawing Book - on my 23rd birthday, apparently (a long time ago). Seeing the performance today made me want to dig them up:

Right now it's kind of funny to think of a 23-year-old reflecting on how the "moments quickly die." Seems like they're going a lot faster now than they were then!

It was fun to see Michelle Minke of Cowtown Opera wonderfully well cast in the role of Edith (the rather exuberant sister) in "Pirates." Here's a picture of Michelle wowing the crowd back at our Ramsay "find it" event, "Opera on Scotsman's Hill," in 2012 (a rather less ambitious pop-up event than a full-scale opera in a tent... but very fun nonetheless!)

Most of all, it was fun to see a major opera company having so much fun. (If you don't believe me, check out the URL when you click on the link to Calgary Opera's Pirates of Penzance page.) I hope this Opera in the Village thing becomes an annual tradition!

I have to go to bed now, but you can bet these rollicking melodies will be the last thing that go through my head before I fall asleep. Good night!

There's a new find it pop-up event happening soon: the Inglewood Night Market, on July 12th (this Friday!).

It will be followed by another market on Friday, August 9th and one more on Friday, September 13th.

So I thought it was time I wrote a bit about find it.

It all started back in November of 2011 when Calgary arts activist and all-around mover & shaker Meg Van Rosendaal invited residents of Inglewood and Ramsay to to talk about the potential for creative collaboration in our neighbourhoods. Meg could see that there was a wealth of creative talent in the two neighbouring hoods, and she felt that there was an opportunity to turn that into something more!

Meg also had her eye on the upcoming Calgary 2012 designation of the city as one of Canada's "Cultural Capitals" - a city that would be eligible for funding, promotion, and general celebration of the arts. How could we be part of that?

Here's a picture I took at that first meeting, hosted by the AREA in Inglewood - an awesome spot that we hope will be back in business soon!

A few of us crazy local folks - I mean, adventurous creative thinkers - came to the meeting, and then came to a few more. At the time, I was just starting to emerge from the round-the-clock sleepless life of a new parent, and just looking for something fun and not too ambitious that I could do in my own neighbourhood. Little did I know I'd be drawn into a wild world of community arts activity!

Darcy and Greg from Inglewood's DaDe Art & Design Lab - who I think just singlehandedly co-ordinated the whole neighbourhood's flood relief effort from their gallery home base; arts & culture fan Sharon Barrette, who happens to be (almost) my aunt; me; and a few others who I don't have pictures of, but I wish I did.

I've had this cool group of local visionaries on my radar since 2007 or 8, when I first heard of "Plan It Calgary." That visioning process has evolved into the imagineCALGARY of today (follow that link to see their lovely new website). But I've always been watching from the sidelines since I was (first) usually out of town, and (later) always at home being a new mom.

Well, now that my son is four years old, I can actually find a little free time now and then to get out and participate in these exciting conversations. I was really looking forward to attending my first imagineCALGARY event this morning. I imagined myself talking with grown-ups about far-sighted, complicated visions, and most of all, enjoying a change of pace from my usual life at home building train tracks with my four-year-old. It's a bit ironic that one of the big selling points of this particular event was that we'd get to play with Lego. Honestly, if I never see any Lego again, I'd probably be ok with that. At least it wasn't train tracks!

Joking aside (the Lego was fun), this was an awesome crowd of thinkers and doers. The opportunity to learn about what they've been up to, and what they want to do next, was inspiring. Here are my sketchnotes:

I was drawn to Bob Miller's suggestion that everyday citizens could engage their neighbourhood spaces with simple activities such as front-yard gardening. This idea reminded me of the 23rd Avenue Artwalk & Street Celebration I helped to organize on my street in Ramsay last year: an event that grew out of a desire to share and showcase the creative talents of a street full of neighbours.

Our one-day event certainly convinced me that getting neighbours out on their front lawns is a great way to forge connections, make streetscapes more lively and lovely, and enjoy all sorts of excellent long-lasting "by-products" into the bargain (neighbourhood safety... friendships... inspiration... not to mention a line on local vegetables, if your neighbours happen to be the Leaf Ninjas). Anyway, I joined this group of thinkers who were working on building a lego model of what our "living sidewalks" (enlivened by gardens, art and general neighbourhood creativity). Here's Mike Fotheringham showing the street we designed.

It's a cul-de-sac that features a painted street, gardens and art installations in front yards, as well as all sorts of other front-yard features to entice visitors over: a bench, a firepit, a gazebo, and an empty lot featuring a tire filled with potatoes. Oh, and some chickens - or at least, a representational chicken leg.

Our group discussion unearthed other ways to engage our street- and sidewalkscapes:

Pop-Ups (shameless plug: take a look at find it!)
Home business ventures, from lemonade stands to yard sales to craft fairs
Street festivals
Firepits for chilly evenings (with hot chocolate for neighbours who stop by)
"Little Free Libraries"
Water tanks & rain barrels for watering gardens
Public art (for some great homegrown examples courtesy of Calgary is Awesome, see here)
(And by the way, public art can sometimes serve a purpose as well as plain old street beautification: witness the Painted Utility Box Program and Sunalta's muralized pedestrian crossing)

Good things about this kind of engagement:
It doesn't have to cost a lot
It doesn't (have to) require jumping through a lot of bureaucratic hoops
It can have great side-effects (traffic calming; crime prevention; neighbourhood networking; creative inspiration; healthy outdoor activity... the list is endless!)
And... it can get people (such as elderly folks) engaged, who wouldn't usually have that kind of opportunity

If you need more inspiration about this kind of thing, look no further than this TED Talk by Jason Roberts of Austin, Texas, in case you haven't heard about his brilliant "Better Blocks."

Well - our group of imagineCALGARIANS talked about staying in touch in order to make something happen on our own streetscapes. Stay tuned! I'll let you know what we come up with!

Thanks, imagineCALGARY, for a great morning. And now back to the train tracks.

Can you believe it, the wonderful folks at Calgary is Awesome wrote this great photo essay about our 23rd Avenue Artwalk & Street Celebration, and I didn't even know about it until recently! I will have to put this lovely montage up on the artwalk site. But for now I'm just putting it here because it is so nice. Thanks a million, CIA!


A COMMUNITY THAT CARES:
Last weekend the community of Ramsay exploded at the seams with great art and I got to take some of it in on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Known as the Artists’ Avenue, 23rd Ave SE in Ramsay threw open its doors, lawns and garages for an epic art stroll last weekend. Everyone was so friendly and more than happy to share their passions for art and gardening with everyone who came by.

Photos by Amy Jo Espetveidt, Quadrophonic Image

1. Vienna, 6-years-old, shows off her artwork. 2. Everyone gathers to chat and share. 3. Brenda Taylor’s Taylor Made Glass. 4. Laurie & Jack the 23rd Ave Resident Scientists display their work. 5. San Gimigniano by Sam Hester. 6. Paintings by Matthew Page-Hanify. 7. Sam Hester Comics. 8. Sierra Love ROBOTS! 9. Artwork at the Leaf Ninjas’ table. 10. Painting by Mariah David. 11. Ceramics by Andrew Tarrant. 12. A couple checks out the Leaf Ninjas’ table. 13. Filmmaker Andrea Mann plays her work. 14. Knitting & Yarn-Dying by Franki Morgan-Fenemore. 15. Heather Stump’s Printmaking. A whole rundown on the artists and artisans that took part can be found here.

Excited to report that Calgary arts & fashion blogger Vincent Law posted a review of our recent 23rd Avenue Artwalk on his acclaimed blog Binzento Vincente. I happened to meet Vincent at an ArtPoint opening this summer and told him about our upcoming artwalk. Not only did he come by to soak up some Ramsay-style creativity, he also did two other things that made me really happy.

1. He took some really awesome photos of our event. I'm so pleased about this because we were missing a few pictures of some of our artists, and now we have a bit more evidence that the artwalk really did take place! And:

2. He wrote in his blog: "I found a hidden gem in YYC few weeks ago. 23rd Ave SE location lies the homes of artists. Officially I can call it the most artsy part of town..." Wow! This is high praise from someone who spends a fair bit of time chronicling Calgary's arts & fashion scene. I've taken the liberty of posting one of Vincent's photos here, but be sure to take a look at his blog to read the rest of the review and see the pictures. Scroll down the page a little bit - the first event on the page is Vincent's review of another Calgary arts event, opening night at the Glenbow Museum's exhibition, Fairy Tales, Monsters, and the Genetic Imagination. Thanks, Vincent!

 

I had the chance yesterday to participate in a really eye-opening workshop that was put together by Bowness-based Conscious Brands. Kara Stonehouse of AHA! Graphic Facilitation was in town to tell Calgarians about a unique job that's increasingly in demand. "Graphic recording" means creating a live illustrated summation or record of an event like a board meeting or workshop. ...

Thanks so much to everyone who helped to make our 23rd Avenue day a great success! Honestly, I'm still recovering from all the hard work and fun that went into our day. I'm looking forward to writing about it, though, so watch this space. For now, please take a look at our newly-posted photo gallery. I hope to add a few more pictures here, too, at some point soon. See you on the avenue!

Only a couple of days before the artwalk, and a few new artists have just signed up to take part! This is a bit of a whirlwind but so exciting. Take a look at our list of artists and artisans to find out a bit about photographer Rob Caleffi and Three Left Feet Movement Creations. A few more 23rd Avenue neighbours... who just happen to be creative artists too! And believe it or not, there are a couple more as well. Even I didn't know that there were so many artists on this short street, when this all began! Doesn't this make you wonder about what kind of cool stuff is going on behind the closed doors on your own street?

Check out this wonderful write-up of our upcoming event that was published today in Calgary is Awesome's "Calgary Arts Round Up" for the week of Sept. 17th- 23rd!

Come out for the 23rd Avenue Artwalk
It’s known as the Artists’ Avenue, 23rd Ave SE in Ramsay is only two blocks long but the 51 houses are homes to artists and craftspeople.
On September 22, from 11am to 5pm, the community is opening its doors for the 23rd Avenue Artwalk and Street Celebration where the street will be transformed into an outdoor arts and crafts gallery. The printmakers, knitters, visual artists, bakers, glassblowers, filmmakers, dancers and musicians will host it all along their porches and front lawns. Many are decorated with original pieces of work, including custom painted front doors like the Piscasso-like one by Matthew Page-Hanify. Plus, the area is known for some of the most beautiful gardens in the city. They even got a grant from Calgary 2012 to make this happen but had so much volunteer and community support that they’re going to be awarding it down the line to a project that will benefit the street and the community at large.
The walk will coincide with the Eastside studio crawl and the community hopes to incise participants to travel the extra block further to 23rd Avenue.

                                                                -Amy Jo Espetveidt, Quadrophonic Image