Tenant profiles are a feature of the 401 Richmond quarterly newsletter. Each issue we choose an organization or individual from our eclectic mix of tenants and focus in on their history, activities and experience here at 401. Collected here is a sampling of profiles that have been included in our newsletter over the past 10 years.
Published in the Summer 2008 issue of the 401 Richmond Update
When Meal Exchange (Studio 365) first hit the non-profit scene it was hailed as “one of the most creative non-profit organizations in Canada” by Macleans Magazine. Founded by visionary Rahul Raj in 1993, the organization is based on the idea that students on university campuses can donate their leftover meal plan points at the end of the year to local food banks. The concept is simple but the results are revolutionary. The program was test driven at Wilfred Laurier University with great success and soon made its way to the University of Guelph and beyond. It is now thriving with over fifty chapters on campuses across Canada and just marked a two million dollar milestone or the equivalent of 727,200 meals...more
Published in the Spring 2008 issue of the 401 Richmond Update
In Ancient Greece, the Playwright Aristophanes, scribed a play called The Birds that told of two men and their journey away from city life in search of a place of peace and tranquility to live out their last days. Upon the advice of Hoopoe who tells of the virtues and easy existence of the birds, they create a kingdom of feathered creatures that becomes revered by humankind. Inspired by this play, Artistic Director Zorana Kydd founded her own idyllic creative space appropriately named Birdland Theatre (Studio 366) in 2004. This one-woman tour de force has jumped into theatre production with both feet and her efforts have been rewarded with a whopping five Dora Mavor Moore Awards to date. For Zorana, who was groomed for the theatre from the age of three, there was simply no question that she would spend her life in the kingdom of theatre...more
Published in the Winter 2007/2008 issue of the 401 Richmond Update
When we were trying to decide who to feature in the profile for this issue of the Update we were surprised to discover that Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography (Studio 120) had not yet had their moment in the spotlight. The gallery and its activities have made the pages of the newsletter countless times over the years, and our surprise was in part because Gallery 44 has been a vital part of the community at 401 Richmond since the beginning. As they approach their 30 th anniversary, a large chunk of their time has been spent making a home in these four walls - a home that includes one of the last wet darkroom facilities in the city, a resource centre, and three gallery spaces more...
Published in the Fall 2007 issue of the 401 Richmond Update
Before we spent some time with Marcelle Faucher (Studio 218) we admittedly knew very little about photo illustration. This is in part because it’s a fairly new field in the graphic arts that developed as photography became increasingly digitized. The work that used to be done by airbrushers and photo re-touchers is now being done almost exclusively on computers by Photo Illustrators. The retouching of images is however only one small piece of a Photo Illustrator’s job – they are also artists in their own right and create imaginary visual worlds from combined images. As Marcelle explains, photo illustration “can be anything from removing blemishes to completely transforming an image. It also involves a lot of compositing - assembling as many as two dozen or more photographs to create something that would be physically impossible to photograph. New technology such as the tablet and stylus, which replace the mouse, allow for pressure sensitive brushwork. The only alternative prior to that would have been traditional illustration.” more...
Published in the Summer 2007 issue of the 401 Richmond Update
In the calm aftermath of launching their strategic plan for the next three years, Canadian Artists Representation/ le front des artistes Canadiens Ontario ( CARFAC Ontario, Studio 440) Executive Director Kristian Clarke, joined us for an afternoon chat about what the future holds for the organization and how they envision their role in advocating for artists’ rights in Ontario. They are in an exciting position as the team who keeps CARFAC Ontario humming along looks forward to programs and initiatives that will truly transform how the organization does its work. Kristian has been flying solo at the helm of CARFAC Ontario for more than six months and is thrilled to see a membership increase of more than one hundred per cent in the last six years. There are still many artists to reach, approximately 15,000 in Ontario alone so they have plenty to keep them busy...more
Published in the Spring 2007 issue of the 401 Richmond Update
In the beginning, before the printing press, printmaking was not considered an art form but a medium of communication. Now a highly regarded form of contemporary artistic practice, artists apply many of the same techniques used hundreds of years ago for their own brand of visual expression. Open Studio (Studio 104) has offered space, and equipment, for this to happen since 1970 and has grown from a two artist operation in a storefront on Queen Street West to a facility that services approximately 150 practicing artists in a new home at 401 Richmond. Open Studio is regarded as a successful model for printmaking centres illustrating the necessary ingredients needed to create a viable and supportive facility for artists... more
Published in the Winter 2006 issue of the 401 Richmond Update
Since the age of twelve , Ron Wood, with camera in hand, has been capturing images of “decisive moments.” His mentor , Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson wrote “my passion has never been for photography in itself, but for the possibility — through forgetting yourself — of recording in a fraction of a second the emotion of a subject, and the beauty of the form." Ron has had what he refers to as the “privilege” of photographing over 1,600 weddings , capturing countless monumental moments on one of the most significant days in peoples ’ lives...more
Published in the Fall 2006 issue of the 401 Richmond Update
In every architect there is the precision of a mathematician and the creative energy of an artist. It is an art form that requires meticulous blueprints for its expression and as Heather Dubbeldam suggests, the results are a collection “of beautiful little moments.”...more
Published in the Summer 2006 issue of the 401 Richmond Update
Mounting a brand new play is never an easy task - doing it with a cast of graduating theatre students who don’t know the language in which it is written is nothing short of a challenge. The Centre for Indigenous Theatre ( CIT, Studio 205) certainly rose to the challenge in their year-end show Gegwah, which played over the last weekend in April. Gegwah was written in Odawa, the language of the Anishnaabec nations, by CIT’s Artist in Residence, Playwright Alanis King...more
Published in the Spring 2006 401 Richmond Update
This winter we met the whole gang at Wildlands League (Studio 380) in a cozy space during their bi-monthly staff meeting. After a quick piece of cake, we moved on to introductions. It is rare that we have the opportunity to meet with more than the principal from our profiled organization, so it was a pleasure to be able to sit down with the entire staff of Wildlands League to talk to them about what it is to be a not-for-profit conservation organization in Ontario. Following the tremendous success of the Nahanni Forever campaign to raise awareness about the Northwest Territories’ spectacular, and threatened, Nahanni wilderness (which included high profile celebrity backing from social advocate Justin Trudeau and singer/songwriter Sarah Harmer) the group is looking ahead to the next steps they need to take in an ongoing fight to raise awareness and support for the northern boreal forest – the centerpiece of their efforts. Forests are their business and they are clearly very passionate about their protection, not just as natural spaces for people to enjoy, but as crucial elements of healthy and sustainable ecosystems...more
Published in the Winter 2005 401 Richmond Update
New Internationalist Magazine (Studio 393) has had an impressive life span that reaches back to the 1970s and across the ocean from the United Kingdom to Canada and beyond. From its beginnings as a student project at Oxford, to an internationally recognized monthly publication that routinely tackles the most pressing issues of global development, it has had a long and prosperous journey that is far from complete. The magazine is the flagship of an organization that also produces a famous calendar as well as a range of books. Over the years the group has done contract work for various UN organizations as well as the International Red Cross. It is also the heart of an operation that is dedicated to the mission of raising awareness and reporting on substantive issues of poverty, inequality, and global justice...more
www.newint.org
Published in the Fall 2005 401 Richmond Update
Looking around artist Marian Wihak’s studio (Studio 278) it’s clear she has been here for a long time – it feels like home, settled, worn in, and full of creative memories. There is an intriguing collection of oil paintings in various stages of completion; more often than not they are somewhat haunting images that evade detection of beginning and end. They are what Marian refers to as nocturnes, lightscapes, and captured movement; “ an experiential collection of remembered images, sensations, moments, which by their nature are ephemeral." Marian is nestled in the east corner of the second floor in a lovely little micro-community. She has been in her studio, which started out as essentially a storage space in a large open studio, for almost eight years and over the years it has expanded as others have grown up around her...more
Published in the Summer 2005 401 Richmond Update
On page four of any issue of PREFIX Photo magazine (Studio 124), there stands a list of awards received in the last six months - the current issue numbers an impressive fourteen. These awards, granted for a range of achievements in art direction, photography, and writing, tell a story of meticulous crafting recognized by variety of groups both locally and internationally. Editor/Publisher Scott McLeodhas cultivated a visually stunning and theoretically stimulating publication that is one of a mere handful of photography publications in Canada, and the only one with a national mandate. Scott fashioned a forum for Canadian photographic explorations by identifying a need, and mixing it with a healthy dose of vision and determination...more
www.prefix.ca
Published in the Spring 2005 401 Richmond Update
Trinity Square Video (studio 376) is in the midst of an exciting transformation. The first change was geographical when the centre took over new digs at 401 Richmond in 2002 and joined a community they worked with regularly but could now call neighbours. A more significant change has been structural as Trinity modifies its practices and services ensure vitality in the art and video-making community...more
www.trinitysquarevideo.com
Published in the Winter 2004/2005 401 Richmond Update
If you have never ventured down to the basement here at 401 Richmond – it’s a bit of a maze made even more labyrinthine by the absence of windows – there are many special treasures to be discovered, including The Academy of Spanish Dance. When we met with Esmeralda Enrique, the Artistic Director of Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company and Executive Director of The Academy of Spanish Dance, the dance studio was between classes and abnormally quiet. Usually the space is filled with the sound of staccato stomping and the melodic Spanish guitar as dancers learn the art of flamenco and classical Spanish dance. In fact, this is the reason The Academy ended up in the basement...more
www.flamencos.net
We met with the Executive Director of War Child Canada (Studio 204) Dr. Samantha Nutt in July, shortly after her return from the Congo, where she spent two weeks with her husband, War Child President Dr. Eric Hoskins, and members of the band Sum 41. They were there to film a documentary on the challenges affecting children and youth in that country but were forced to evacuate when the area suddenly erupted in gunfire and the group had to be evacuated. “There were about 100,000 rounds that went off in about 48 hours,” says Dr. Nutt, no stranger to unrest. “I was in Iraq two days after the fall of Suddam’s statue where there was gunfire, explosions, etc., and where an explosion hit one of the hotels nearby. I’ve been in those sorts of situations - but I’ve never had to be evacuated before"...more
www.warchild.ca
Recently Martin Heath celebrated his 60 th birthday in proper Cinecycle style. The Coach House provided a magical atmosphere for guests; dolled up and complete with a screening of an old black and white film of the 1937 premier Royal visit to Canada . It was clear from a glance around the room, that Martin is both adored by friends and admired by artists and filmmakers as an encouraging and inspiring individual. In fact, this year Martin is the recipient of the Images Festival’s (studio 448) Tom Berner Award for “providing extraordinary support to the cause of independent filmmaking in Toronto.” Martin is honoured to receive the award and we couldn’t think of anyone more deserving..more
Meal Exchange's Communications and Programme Manager Leisha Zamecnik and Executive Director Dave Kranenburg
Zorana Kydd, Executive Director of Birdland Theatre
Gallery 44 Staff from left to right: Exhibition Coordinator Stephanie Rogerson, Education Coordinator Danielle Bleackley, Director Sara Angelucci, and Development Coordinator Gaye Jackson.
CARFAC Ontario Staff (back) Executive Director Kristian Clarke; (front left to right) Associate Director Sara Kelly, Communications Coordinator Adriana Alarcòn, and Workshop Coordinator Greg Manuel.
Open Studio Staff (left to right): Director Heather Webb, Print Sales Manager/Archivist Astrid Ho, Studio Technician Justin Labaine, Technical Director Jill Graham, and Associate Director Bridget Indelicato.
Photographer Ron Wood
Architect Heather Dubbeldam
CIT Staff left to right: Managing Director JL Watson, Artistic Director/Principal Rose Stella, Outreach Program Coordinator Holly Pichette, Development Coordinator Sarah Richardson, and Marketing Coordinator Deepa Kanal.
Back (left to right): Dave Pearce, Forest Conservation Analyst; Harvey Locke, Board Chairman Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Foundation; Dr. Derek Ford, retired professor of Physical Geography and Geology; Chris Henschel, Manager Forest Certification + Policy, Janet Sumner, Executive Director; David Lang, President. Middle (left to right): Julee Boan, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Coordinator + Protected Areas Specialist; Jill Sturdy, CPAWS Outreach Coordinator; Sarah Harmer, Singer/Songwriter + Conservation Advocate; Justin Trudeau, Children's Mentor + Conservation Advocate; Lana Kevic, Executive Assistant. Front (left to right): David Jeffrey, CPAWS Director of Development; Evan Ferrari, Director Parks + Protected Areas Program; Nicole Thouard, Director of Development; Cathy Jones, Comedian + Conservation Advocate; Anna Baggio, Director, Conservation Land Use Planning.
New Internationalist Magazine staff: (left to right) Editor Richard Swift, Office Manager Faziah Hamid, and Editor Wayne Ellwood
A
rtist Marian Wihak in her painting studio.
Left to right: Chandra Bulucon, Advertising Sales Manager, Scott McLeod, Editor/Purblisher, Sarah Robayo Sheridan, Communications Manager, Olivia Tsang, Operations Manager,
Trinity Square Video Executive Director Roy Mitchell with Chandra Bulucon of Puppy Machine Productions.
Esmeralda Enrique performing in Luna Nueva. Photo: Hamid Karimi.
Left: (clockwise from left) Dr. Samantha Nutt (Executive Director) with Moose (office canine mascot), Victoria Long, Vanessa Currie, Alice Tien, Anne-Marie Kamanye, Naomi Johnson, Priya Ranger, Christine McKenna, Michaela Hudson (centre), Adele Cassola, Krista Riley, (missing, Dr. Eric Hoskins, President).
Martin Heath, Cinecycle Founder.
