Civic Units - Sarah Garton Stanley
Arts Commons is thrilled to welcome creative innovator and arts leader Sarah Garton Stanley as the new VP of Programming. As a passionate advocate for the arts, SGS shares how it all started in her piece Civic Units, and reflects on embarking on this new chapter of her life with Arts Commons.
As a kid I felt destined for a life in the arts. There are many factors that played into this. I was the youngest born into a family with means, and the arts were valued and accessible to us. In Montreal, where I grew up, there was a significant amount of programming available to me. I lived in a big city! When I was a kid it was VERY big. And it also had - what I am going to call - this amazing "civic unit", called Place Des Arts, referred to as the largest performing arts complex in Canada. As a kid, I probably saw a few things there, but the show that pole vaulted me into my life's work was a legendary production of Godspell. It was the most astonishing thing my eyes had ever seen. Subsequent hours were spent in basements singing "preeeeeee- eeeeee-pear-ye"... so much compassion for parents and older siblings as I think back on this!
For many years, as a kool kat (self-appointed), trying to make my way in the world, I was embarrassed that Godspell was the show that really turned my lights on. It was years later that I discovered that I had been witness to a career defining moment for several of comedy and musical greats! Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Andrea Martin, Paul Shaffer, Jane Easwood and Victor Garber. I don't keep programs, and Montreal was a tour stop from Toronto, so I can't confirm all of those folks were on that stage, but I do know that the little kid who walked into that place, that "civic unit" was not the same kid that walked out. My life was transformed by that event. And it happened at Place Des Arts, a dream put into motion by Montrealers who backed the arts.
The gift of that access has never been far from my sense of self, and it is something I have worked to share as widely as possible. How is it ever possible that one person should have more access to transformation than another?
Cut to many years later and the transformation project of - let's face it - an incredible place to begin with! Arts Commons!
As a kid, my parents and I visited the Stampede, my bolo tie, something I had never before seen, was in my keepsake jewellery box for years. The wonder of that childhood trip returned when some years later, I made my first visit to Arts Commons. Why? Because of the scale, the friendliness, the frankness and the ambition. When I returned once more, to direct a theatre show during the ground-breaking Playrites festival, I was struck by something else…living there for a 10-week residency, I was beset by a feeling of placelessness. I couldn't figure out why things were where they were. Why this building here? Why that one there? What was the reason for the communities of Calgary building out as they did? When I was at Arts Commons I felt grounded. I knew to look across the street to the Glenbow, the other way to Olympic Plaza, and up the street to the shops. I knew where the river was. I felt connected. So now, when I return to the city I am gifted with the opportunity to learn the city through what Arts Commons is doing for Calgarians and what Calgarians are doing for Arts Commons! Together Arts Commons and the city it represents are creating that exchange, that moment, where any child, or child at heart, is given the opportunity to both know where they are, and then to walk in one way and walk out another! This sits at the heart of my personal mission! Amid all the amazing things already happening at Arts Commons, I am poised and ready to help define Calgary as the most responsive and vibrant "civic unit" in Canada, on Turtle Island. A place that knows where it is and why it is because Calgarians tell. I can't wait to be a steadfast, respectful, attentive, and listening guest on the land Arts Commons calls home. And I promise not to spend time in your basements singing but I can't promise we won't be looking for amazing transformative things to program instead.
