Arts space rises from old fish warehouse

An old seafood warehouse is being turned into a temporary arts space in Calgary's East Village for local theatre, music and visual art groups.

The building, at 630 Seventh Avenue S.E., is slated to be demolished but Calgary Arts Development convinced the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation to try opening it up to artists until the warehouseis knocked down.

"We felt it was a really unique way to draw people into the neighbourhood and see how the area is changing," said Chris Ollenberger, President and CEO of the CMLC. "Our vision of East Village includes the arts community as a future anchor tenant, so we think of this as a preview of sorts."

"Still smells a bit fishy actually," said Terry Rock, president and CEO of Calgary Arts Development Authority on Thursday.

But the space is a perfect, inexpensive place for artists to rehearse and showcase their work, he said.

"These kinds of spaces in Calgary are a bit quite rare actually. Because a lot of more older cities in Canada has space like this that becomes available all the time and it is traditionally the kind of thing that artists thrive in," said Rock.

'We're sort of making hay while the sun shines.' Terry Rock, Calgary Arts Development

The two groups have agreed to a pilot projectuntil the end of June for now as they work through issues around permits and operational costs.

"We're sort of making hay while the sun shines," said Rock.

The fish warehouse is not worth salvaging because of the overwhelming costs of major infrastructure upgrades. But the test project is a way to start integrating the arts community into the long-term development of the East Village, and make it affordable for artists to live and work there, said organizers.

"[We need to ensure in] long-term developments of new communities that the arts are a leader there and that they're built in and that these issues around affordability are dealt with up front and built into the structure," said Rock.

CADA is accepting proposals from artists looking for temporary use of the old seafood market.

An interactive production called i-ROBOT Theatre by the Swallow-a-Bicycle Performance Co-op will be the first occupant May 5-15.