By Pepper Parr
September 21, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON.
She pulled it off. With the help of her husband Dean and one of the most impressive collections of volunteers we have ever seen in this city, Selina Jane Eckersall held her second No Vacancy event, this time at the Village Square.
Jack Friedman, the man who built the Village Square, must have smiled when he learned that the space he created was being used the way he wanted it to be used.
Eckersall held her first No Vacancy at the Waterfront Hotel in 2013. It was a critical success and drove her to growing the concept and worked out an arrangement with the property owners at the Village Square to use the empty space.
Eckersall estimates there were between 2,000 and 5,000 people at the event – that is too wide a spread – the real number was somewhere above 3,500 based on what we observed.
Eckersall wasn’t prepared to say which was the best of the 30 installation but she did say that Appollonia Vanova and the Grand Connection were very popular.
Lovely colours
The volunteers were superb.
The volunteers were exceptional. If you had a question – they had an answer or they got you an answer quite quickly.
There were times when the space around the gazebo was packed so tightly you could hardly move. It was a friendly crowd – not a hooligan in sight.
In a city the size of Burlington most people know someone and the chance to meet up was just fun. Patrick Bermingham one of the artists, decided to rent one of the empty spaces for his own purposes and held a private party. He was able to invite all his friends, offer them a drink and have people get out to see some of the installations and come back to chat about what they had seen. Expect to see more of that next year.
Dream catchers.
And there will be a next year. Eckersall was going through what worked and what didn’t work. The installations at the Gym on Pearl didn’t get the traffic they should have gotten; the beer garden didn’t produce the revenue that was expected and Eckersall isn’t sure that she will use a portion of Pine Street next year.
Eckersall knows now that she needs to tweak the business model. The event cost about $10,000 to put on – revenue didn’t quite reach that level.
The Juggler
Sponsorship was good – but ways have to be found to increase the revenue. Selena Eckersall and her husband spent more than six months on this project and are not likely to see as much as a dime personally for their efforts. They might even have to dip into the cookie jar to make up the loss.
Student Theatre mannequins
It was an exciting event; it left all those who attended fully appreciating their community and the sense of community that was created in the Village Square.
It was a delight to see Angelo Bentivegna working the crowd and chatting with his friends. He was in full election mode and it seemed perfectly natural.
When asked: What was the biggest thrill for you? Eckersall didn’t need a second to respond – “Seeing all those people – the excitement of the artists and how inspired they were.”
What was the biggest disappointment?
Beer sales were much lower than we expected. We need to re-think the beer garden”, said Eckersall. All the activity was inside the Village.
Despite the low beer sales “the city is hungry for this kind of stuff and that was certainly evident” Eckersall added. The challenge now is to keep the content fresh and relevant.
The Cirque was different, it wasn’t as “scrappy” as the Art Crawl in Hamilton. There was more money in the space – Burlington is a wealthier city and that was clearly evident in the traffic – no one was wearing furs but there was a sense of satisfaction in the crowds – a crowd doesn’t seem to be the right word. There were a lot of people but it was more like a community getting together.
The mannequins located throughout the Village were all courtesy of the Student Theatre. The make up on a few was close to astounding.
This took all the seniors back to the 60’s
The juggler was close to a carnival pitchman – she moved beautifully and talked about her art. The belly dancers had nice costumes.
Suspended illusions
Eckersall is now looking for operational funding and working on writing for a Trillium grant. She might want to have lunch with Kelly Arnott of the Chilly Half Marathon fame, and talk about how one finds long term sponsors.
Best Practices
1/ Provide the artists with contracts specifying the relationship between the arts organization and the artists covering such topics as: installation dates/times, Installation assistance/technician, date /time to remove the art, exhibition dates and location of installation, shipping reimbursement, loading areas , parking, a firm base artist fee, liability, insurance of equipment and art, copyrights, moral rights, duty of care of the art, organization’s or artists covering costs of the exhibition, promotion, invitations, brochures/ essays and documentation, sales(commercial art not installation), dispute resolution methods, terms and conditions such as termination of contract.
2/ Best Practices have nothing to do with give and take after the contract has been agreed and signed. They have to do with outlining aspects of how to deal with artists in such areas as copyright. Some Best Practices are not written in a contract as they are professional expectations such as not moving art once installed without consulting the artist, censorship and more.
3/ Best Practices also deal with commercial galleries, juried exhibition, public art commissions, use of an artist’s work for fund raising.
If we are discussing volunteerism, I have donated hundreds of thousand of hours over my near thirty year art practice and being an independent curator. Most artist do volunteer for a variety of causes using their art practice, skills and knowledge. Let’s not have a pissing contest over who is the best/most martyr.
Jim,
How did you get out of my response that I think artists should not expect Best Practices? I never once said that artists should work for free, working long hours, or pay exorbitant fees to be part of any event. You didn’t work for free, your hours were your own to manage, and the fees you chose to take on yourself(there are many free parking lots in Burlington, especially after 6pm all lots are free)
No Vacancy as an organization have never asked of Artists what they are incapable of.. And if anything made you feel uncomfortable about the event that is on your plate as well… and it was your CHOICE to be part of the event or not.
Quality arts and culture in Burlington cannot exist without Best Practices and it also cannot exist without give and take, I gave up over 100 hours of my time with Cirque and Dean and Selina gave an innumerable amount. You don’t hear us asking for Best Practices for event coordinators… That being said its not about us its about community development and furtherance for many future generations in Burlington!
Sometimes being a creator means breaking even and being gracious for anything above and beyond that…Its just how the world works sometimes. Take this from a guy who’s lived in a van for a month on tour just to break even and receive a handshake at the end, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
I also want to make comment that in no way shape or form am I claiming that artists and creators of culture shouldn’t be paid. Just making that very clear.
Matt,
I completely agree with you. As an artist that participated in Cirque I think the overall experience was wonderful. Personally, I didn’t go into the event with the expectation of getting money out of it, I went in with the hope of introducing the community to a new way of experiencing art. I think some people are struggling to see the bigger picture of what we created that night. We transformed part of our city and brought life and creativity to an otherwise quiet area. It’s important to remember that No Vacancy is a new organization that is just starting out and growing with each event. There will be hiccups here and there but nothing amazing was created overnight. Selina and Dean were generous enough to pull money from their own pockets to open this door of possibility and any artist, volunteer, sponsor etc. that chooses to take part is building towards a richer culture in our city. I hope that the success of Cirque has inspired everyone to see what is possible in our city and that it allows us to do even more in the future.
Matt
I don’t know how much you know about Best Practices professional treatment of artists. You do not know the details of my concerns that I will keep confidential at this point. I refer you to CARFAC and https://www.bestpracticestandards.ca/?s=standards.
Emerging artists are frequently afraid to speak up or unaware of Best Practices. Some are just happy to get the gig and do it for free. I’m disappointed that people like Matt think that artists should not expect Best Practices? Quality arts and culture will only improve and expand in Burlington if Best Practices are used including artists, curators, venues and city hall.
I think that Tamarlyn has made a wonderful suggestion on the audience supporting the event with a cash donation during the “free” event. Hopefully, this may be used by No Vacancy unless they see an ethical reason not to. No Vacancy should not and can not continue to have financial short falls. No Vacancy is a non profit organization. Selina and Dean can not be expected to continue “loaning money” to No Vacancy and not be repaid. Nor should artists be expected to subsidize No Vacancy by exhibiting artwork that is installation based and non commercial in nature for free.
I hope to clarify my concerns to No Vacancy in a one on one meeting later on how to improve No Vacancy’s Best Practices. Some will not be new. Some will be.
As far as my reputation, I have no problem being known to stand up for artist rights.
Just a quick comment to Jim, I myself being a volunteer of Cirque believe that we had a very professional event on the 19th. Some bumps happen with events this size(I myself having done things on this scale before), but to insinuate that we aren’t professional on a public forum is a great disservice to Selina, Dean, the volunteers, everyone who made this event happen and all the work No Vacancy does for local artists and Burlington. These are issues meant for private emails and in person conversations. Not only do you make us look bad, you make the event seem sloppy and tarnish the good will of all the people involved and you do a great deal of damage to your own public image.
And you addressing costs, yes parking costs money, yes gas costs money, yes materials cost money. I was the person who booked all the live music throughout the night, 9 acts total, some of these being full 5-6 piece bands. And I heard not a peep from any of these individuals about asking for gas money or parking money. Grateful for the opportunity to speak their voice in a setting where they usually wouldn’t be able to and connect with people who they might not ever meet in their normal life’s circuit.
To anyone reading these comments, see above to Kyle Tonkens comment for a more accurate representation of Cirques inner workings and the overall event.
I had a great time at Cirque. It was wonderful to see the artists and their work, including the performing artists. Fantastic vibe and I look forward to the next event. I was surprised that I didn’t see buckets for donations like they have at Sound of Music, for example. I think people would be willing to donate to help with the costs. I’m not sure how much would be brought in but every little bit helps! 🙂
I am sorry if I have jumped the gun. I should not post late at night a reply to bait. Look at the typos early Tuesday morning in the dark!!! It is not easy to complain when you are involved. I realize where I am placing myself.
As far as artist fees, and artist contracts are part of ethical Best Practices that the city and all arts /culture groups should adhere too. This cycle of funding the artists fees on tentative income needs to change in all Burlington arts activities. When I was told that the beer garden did not do as well as expected, I recall such a comment about last year’s admittance fee when the artists were not paid. Paying artists should be the top priority if you want a professional event. If you are supporting culture support cultural workers and do a tremendous service to them..not just the community of citizens. I knew that there was a strong possibility that the finances would not align as far as goals stated to me. I still went forward because I wanted to support such a potentially grand on going event.
I supported No Vacancy efforts and still support their goals. The growing pains are to be expected but more professionalism in dealing with artists is needed. More re assurance is needed for artists fees being a firmer base expectation, personal liability and contracts that outline the agreement.
I was totally exhausted on Saturday and Sunday. I’m sure that No Vacancy staff was as well. Today is Tuesday. I think that an email informing the artists of the artist fee is coming is not out of order rather than reading it on a newspaper reply section. I realize that it would take time to do final calculations.
I may have been out of line and again I am sorry to drag this in to the public realm. However, the community needs to know that these events need to pay the artists as a priority. Free is not really free. Some one is paying. It should not be the artists.
Again, sorry for jumping the gun. Thank you for your great efforts. I’m willing to help advice if needed.
Experience of Cirque was truly wonderful. To me, it takes truck loads of courage and immeasurable passion to even attempt to create an event like Cirque in a community that has never really experienced anything of the kind. To bring contemporary art to the public, on their turf is, for me, the only way forward if we are to create a sustainable Arts&Culture sector in Butlington. Personally, my choice, (and it was a choice), to participate in Cirque was made more to be part of a special, unprecedented event in Burlington, over any financial compensation I may receive because of it. The Curators/volunteers themselves have received zero financial compensation for their huge efforts and time commitments, every ounce of which was given freely so that the artists may have a wonderful opportunity to exhibit their work to a wide public. Furthermore, I believe it is very likely that the artists involved in Cirque will receive new opportunities moving forward, because of the exposure Cirque provided, that are not fully appreciated immediately, especially if the benefit of exhibiting is calculated by considering the amount of the artist fee exclusively. Thank you Selina and Dean and to all the volunteers and artists and sponsors and media and thank you to every person who attended Cirque.
Thank you for acknowledging the MANY hours of hard and unpaid work we have put into making this event happen for the community. My husband Dean and I have invested well over 1000 hours into planning this event this year and in two years of operating No Vacancy have never profited one dollar, in fact we have been in the red both years.
BUT, this event is not about us personally. It is about the community and what the community needs. It’s about creating more opportunities HERE for artists in a way that hasn’t been done before, so YES there’s going to be growing pains, there hasn’t been a lot of money, and we are learning as we go. Sponsorship has been hard because people haven’t understood the event (what it is, what it looks like) because it’s never been done here. There’s also a learning gap with understanding contemporary art, which we are helping overcome.
It’s easy to complain and criticize but what we did here was a tremendous service for the community. And Jim, you have yet to even receive your artist stipend (which we are sending out by the end of the week) so a little premature of you to attack our artist fees. And really not part of the solution. And to address your issues with the security, it was a requirement to have either them or the Halton police there (whose price tag was much higher than what we paid Dragon).
We need support, help, and to align with people who want to be involved in creating something great here, something meaningful, and with the understanding that these things take time.
It really is not a business model that is needed as much as being able to create a budget for the event that is realistic. Placing payment of artist fees high on your budget priority and considering it as valuable as insurance, rent, electricity, publicity etc. Balancing the expenses with the revenue realistically. If you can not pay artist fees for thrity artists reconsider your scale of your project.
It is very difficult to project revenue with such a project in its early development. Speaking to Hamilton’s Supercrawl arts committee may have help. Even Toronto’s Nuit Blanche has a budget plan that has gown. Burinlington’s business community can help but so can funders. The problem and complaints do seem to increase in some minds with large banks “brand” the festival to the detriment of culture. It is hard and the curators are not very experienced. They will do better and I do not mean to be complaining as Donald stated. I am bringing the reality and difficulty of being a cultural worker public.
Donald
It is not being paid to my liking. It is presenting a professional arts event and adhering to artist contracts, established artist fees. Would you expect a lawyer to do your legal work for the exposure? Would you expect a plumber to fix your sink for the pleasure of doing so?
Donald
A business model is not art language. Artist fees are outlined in the CARFAC fee schedule. First, the curator needs to study this fee schedule to determine what the event is. It is not an exhibition within a gallery setting. The artist fee that I recall being paid for a one day Supercrawl event was somewhere around $400 to $500 per artist.
The curator needs to research the possibility of getting funding by applying for an Ontario Arts Council grant. The competition is strong. The event now has sufficient support material to present a grant application. A business model for the arts is not a running race. Sponsors are great but we are discussing arts and culture…not widgets. One artist pointed out to me that there were a lot of security staff. It is unknown who paid them but I suspect that they were paid.
Like musicians, you must factor in all the work involved to bring the installation to the point for the public to view. The transportation of materials to create the installation must be factored in. Just parking for the day cost me $14. I had three pedestals built for over a hundred dollars made especially for the installation. You can imagine how much gas it took to bring Mark Prier’s sculpture. The time to install the installation seemed to vary. My own was complex while others could be installed in an hour or two. Installations are site specific and they deal with the actual space.
If the so called business model is not yet fully achieved he event is not ready to be presented to the public. Without the artists you have no event. It is the same I suspect with the Sound of Music. Are the musicians paid?
How can you get paid to your liking if the business model itself is not yet fully achieved.
Mr Riley, you always seem to complain. Great event nonetheless!
I didn’t get to see some of Cirque as I was an artist in the Gym on Pearl’s stretch room. The Gym was a very good location for my video installation. The traffic may not have been as high as those more central but those who came enjoyed and appreciated my installation. Auyuittuq: land that never melts has a strong socio political message about climate change. It needed some didactic explanation and I tried to give it.
I agree that better funding to pay the installation artists is needed. Not all exhibits might fall under the area of installation but works like Mark Prier’s sculpture by the LCBO were excellent. Faisal Anwar, Keith Busher, Reg Moore, Kyle Tonkens, Kim Stanford, Appolania Vanova etc. deserve to be paid for the service that we provided.
I wish Selena well in finding the sponsors. Time to apply for grants. Time for the city to support cultural events with money.
Contratulations to all involved. Some of the volunteers like Brian were just amazing!(never got his last name)
Cirque was a wonderful event. The exhibits were unique and inspiring. Wandering through the maze of cobblestone streets and brick buildings added much to the excitement. It gave me the feeling of being transported away from modern time into a wonderfully Bohemian world.