Windsor Symphony Orchestra News

Windsor lacks vision
BY ANNE JARVIS, THE WINDSOR STAR
October 19, 2009

Five years ago, the 100-year-old King Edward Hotel in Calgary was condemned and boarded up.

The same year, Windsor acquired the vacant century-old armouries downtown.

Now, in a bold and visionary move, the King Eddy is to be refurbished and incorporated into a new national music centre that will lead a massive revitalization of Calgary's blighted East Village.

And the armouries?

Little has happened with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra's $28-million proposal to convert the stately and historic building into a concert and festival hall. The city, which sees this as the symphony's project, contributed $10,000 to the feasibility study and is reluctant to commit more. The symphony is still trying to find a partner.

The two plans are similar; both would use the arts, culture and heritage to revitalize the city's core. But there's a difference in Calgary, says Windsor symphony conductor John Morris Russell.

"What is most striking is the sense of co-operation and purpose in the design and will to get it done."

Calgary may be five times bigger than Windsor, and it may not have the highest unemployment rate in the country, like Windsor, but the difference isn't entirely about money. It's also about vision.

The East Village is largely vacant land and parking lots. About 2,000 people live there. Half are homeless. There are drug dealers and prostitutes. The city wants to reclaim the area and bring people back. It hopes to draw more than 11,000 people there to live. How will it get them? By using the arts, culture and heritage as a catalyst for renewal and innovation.

Calgary, which approved an arts policy in 2004, believes that a vibrant arts scene is essential for its quality of life and in turn, for the city's success, from rejuvenating neighbourhoods to attracting tourists. The city has set aside $165 million of infrastructure funding from the province for cultural projects. A majority of residents surveyed said they would even pay more taxes to fund arts and culture.

The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, the city agency overseeing the revitalization of East Village, is also embracing the area's history. It plans to save all four heritage properties left there because that's where the city was founded 130 years ago. (They've got nothing on Windsor's Olde Sandwich Towne).

The national music centre is being launched by the non-profit Cantos Music Foundation.

The plan is for a five-storey 80,000-square-foot centre including a live music venue, recording studio, radio station and space for the foundation's instrument collection and school and community programs. It would be the first major new building in the East Village and a gateway to the rejuvenated neighbourhood. A pedestrian promenade running through the core would link the centre to theatre, cinemas, shops, restaurants, condos, offices and the Bow River.

The project is called the Cantos at the King Eddy. There was a global competition to design it, and the public was invited to comment on the proposed designs. A website is gathering stories about the hotel.

For 30 years, the King Eddy was a blues bar that hosted some of the most formative blues artists of the time.

For Cantos executive director Andrew Mosker, saving the King Eddy is like acquiring a relic for the foundation's collection. He believes in the value of authenticity, especially in a city that has torn down most of its heritage buildings.

You have to look at the intangible value, he says. It's like the white, upright piano the centre has. It's worthless, except for its meaning -- Elton John wrote 100 songs on it.

Citing strong community support, the chance to save the King Eddy, breathe life into the East Village and create a destination, the Calgary Arts Development Authority is recommending that the city contribute $25 million toward the proposed $75-million centre.

The centre could be the most important project in North America this year, said winning architect Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture of Oregon. It's "incredibly bold," especially in the midst of a recession, to use arts and culture to launch a revitalization, he said.

And it works. An old warehouse near his office in Portland was renovated 10 years ago to include an auditorium for performing arts. Community groups flocked to it. There was a 24-hour music festival. That auditorium became the catalyst for redeveloping the entire neighbourhood.

"It just became an energy source," he said. "Sometimes it's that act of faith. Somebody just has to take the first step."

Calgary could show Windsor how it's done.

ajarvis@thestar.canwest.com