IT TAKES A VILLAGE
York Street to host Ottawa 2017 exhibits and performances this summer
Goodbye parking spots. Hello hip and edgy performance and exhibition space.
That’s the gist of Inspiration Village, which for the next 110 days will radically transform the western end of York Street in the ByWard Market.
While the installation’s lead-up has seen some complaints about lost parking and the possible exploitation of performing artists, Guy Laflamme, executive director of Ottawa 2017, the not-for-profit body behind Inspiration Village, among many other sesquicentennial-themed events, says the project is in keeping with bold advances in using urban spaces in other major North American cities.
“Change is always going to generate some reactions,” he said.
“Let’s try it. Let’s have the guts to try it in Ottawa.”
Inspiration Village is to be open daily until Sept. 4 from noon to 8 p.m., showcasing an eclectic mix of exhibits, demonstrations and performances in its 41 shipping containers. The project also includes a lineup of massive O -T-T-A-W-A letters, which, along with the Peace Tower in the background, will allow selfie takers to snap “the ultimate photo of Canadian pride,” Laflamme says.
The project has a $2-million budget, of which roughly 60 per cent is for infrastructure and 40 per cent is for programming, says Laflamme.
For more than a year, the Toronto-based project management company Wendy Kane & Associates has been contracted to help Ottawa 2017 bring to life and operate Inspiration Village. Kane’s company previously oversaw Prince Edward Island’s P.E.I. Celebration Zone in 2014 and the 100th Grey Cup Festival in 2012 in Toronto, among others.
Deep inside the DNA of Inspiration Village are inspirations from around the globe, Laflamme said. An initial spark was the example set by the Espace 400e Pavilion in Quebec City, a cultural centre that helped mark that city’s 400th anniversary celebrations in 2008.
Laflamme said he was also captivated by a 2014 project in Sun City, South Africa, in which a global software conference was held in a custom-built space made from repurposed, decal-decorated shipping containers.
And then there’s the Piazza Navona, a famed public space in Rome.
Initially, Laflamme knew what he wanted to create, but not where he could put it. He ruled out the grounds of Ottawa City Hall because of conflicts with other summer events and also Sparks Street, which he says would have been too small. Then the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada proposed that York Street between Sussex Drive and ByWard Market Square be reclaimed during Canada’s 150th anniversary festivities.
The pairing of the institute’s proposal and Laflamme’s brainchild was “really destiny at its best,” he said.
The architectural institute went so far as to say that the York Street space’s proportions were similar to that of the celebrated civic space in Rome.
“The proportions of the space are ideal,” institute president Allan Teramura said in a statement last year. “Its relative narrowness means the centre is not too far from the facades, giving it a sense of enclosure, while its extreme length means several events could be happening at the same time without interfering with each other.
“My expectation is that once people get used to being able to enjoy York Street as a public square, they’re not going to want to see it revert to a parking lot.”
To that end, Inspiration Village has lined up more than two dozen exhibitors, including provincial and territorial tourism organizations, national bodies such as Parks Canada, the RCMP and the World Wildlife Fund, local museums, post-secondary institutions and more. Filling five shipping containers, Parks Canada will have the biggest presence on the site.
Laflamme says that Inspiration Village is not intended to compete with Ottawa’s larger attractions and festivals. Some festivals — Laflamme gave the example of the Capital Ukrainian Festival held on Green Valley Crescent — could send performers to Inspiration Village to be “teasers to reach the downtown crowd” and lure them to their proper events.
Inspiration Village took some heat this month after its website’s “call for performers” stated “there is no compensation available for performers,” who would have to be content playing for “national exposure.”
In a much-read and commented upon blog post, Ottawa writer Marie Bilodeau called on Ottawa 2017 to pay artists for their services.
“You built a beautiful space, Ottawa,” she wrote. “Now show how much you care about it by paying your skilled and amazing performers.”
Laflamme says the call for performers was a staffer’s mistake that left him “beyond livid. As soon as I saw this, I said, ‘Get this out of there.’”
Yes, there will be some volunteer, amateur performers who will not be paid, Laflamme said, citing school bands as one example. But professional artists and up-andcomers will negotiate their fees to play Inspiration Village. “They will be paid the market rate,” Laflamme said.
Don’t expect to have big stars — “Jim Cuddy,” Laflamme says hypothetically — playing Inspiration Village’s stage, which will face bleachers seating 100 people. “It would cause chaos,” Laflamme said, adding that he hopes to present performers on the rise, a “future Alanis Morissette.”
Among the performances this long weekend will be short sets by Ottawa artists, including indigenous group Silla & Rise, Franco-Canadian duo Folkofolie, the Orkidstra Cello Choir, genre-defying cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne and Cuban jazz pianist Miguel De Armas.
Event manager Kane, who moved from Toronto to Ottawa in April for her duties and will be on site daily at Inspiration Village, said the project probably ranks as the one she’s most proud of “because of what it stands for.
“This is all about celebrating our country. You don’t get to do that every day.” phum@postmedia.com twitter.com/peterhum