A PLACE for the ARTS – A History
By Harold Eastman and Leilah Ward
Two events in the fall of 2013 led to the creation of A PLACE for the ARTS.
The first was the closure of the Rural Roots restaurant, which was located next to the Art Gallery of Bancroft. The restaurant had become a favourite gathering spot for artists, writers and musicians, and when it closed its doors, creative folks in the Bancroft area felt a strong sense of loss. “Where will we meet?”
At the same time, stories began to circulate that the old Bancroft elementary school, just up the hill from Rural Roots, might be available for purchase from the school board for a nominal sum to serve as an arts and creative centre.
The two events felt like some kind of convergence, and it wasn’t difficult to draw 20 or 30 people together for a couple of community meetings in early 2014 to discuss the school conversion. It soon became clear that such a task would be much too costly in terms of necessary renovations and volunteer effort. But the seed of interest in creating “a place for the arts” in Bancroft had been sown, and a smaller group continued to meet. A church building outside town was considered, then a space in one of the buildings owned by the province along Highway 28 at the south west entrance to the city. Neither possibility panned out.
Then the group heard that an artists’ studio at the east end of 23 Bridge Street was going to be vacated in the late spring. The group approached the landlord, Burke Chamberlain, and worked out a lease for the street level shop space, a large second floor storage area, and a street level annex on the east end of the building.
Volunteer crews spent a good part of the summer cleaning, painting and doing minor repairs, and in August, 2014, A Place For the Arts opened. The shop space was to serve as an exhibition venue for a co-operative of 20 or so artists who paid a membership fee each month for the privilege of showing their work. For a separate fee, artists could also rent studio space upstairs and in the annex. The shop space, furnished with plenty of places to sit, soon came to serve as the gathering spot for makers and appreciators of art, as the founding group had hoped.
In the following spring, the meeting-place function was further enhanced when a small expresso and snacks bar opened in the space. And in the fall, the co-op decided to sublet the annex space to an anti-poverty group, the North Hastings Community Trust. The result was that the shop became a vital and often noisy place of comings and goings, friendship and debate.
Over the next several years, A PLACE for the ARTS continued to innovate in terms of its governance and policies, its membership structure and its programs. A new membership category for musicians was created. A popular weekly open-mike event, John Forman’s 7-11 Café, found a new home in the space, and attracted standing-room-only crowds. Writing and photography groups were established.
There were also searching debates especially around issues of art and poverty, and cultural appropriation which led to parameters being created regarding what art is appropriate to APFTA. A Membership Protocol of Exhibition Guidelines was established, which includes, “With respect to appropriation of First Nations cultural imagery and objects, APFTA will not exhibit sacred or ceremonial artifacts or items that can be confused with actual indigenous creations, unless created by an indigenous person.”
Other changes were also afoot. In 2017, the coffee bar expanded into a shop front next door to APFTA, with the intervening wall broken out to unify the spaces. Yoga classes and Qi Gong classes were held in the expanded space as well as fundraising parties and musical gatherings. At about the same time as the expansion, the North Hastings Community Trust had outgrown its annex sublet and moved to larger space in the same Bridge Street building.
These changes paralleled an evolution in the ethos of the shop space. As the departure of the Trust and the coffee bar led to a quieter environment, artist members began to discuss the establishment of a more traditional gallery ethos in the space, which was also driven by the financial challenges of funding two leases. By the end of 2018, the wall between the coffee bar (now The Muse Gallery and Café) and the gallery shop had been restored; The Muse becoming a fully independent enterprise.
APFTA then transitioned to an environment and business approach that focused less on being a gathering spot and more on the sale of art, including online listings. These changes helped both the organization, and the artists it served, weather the approaching storm of a global pandemic. Both APFTA and The Muse, sharing an entrance foyer, remain committed to synergy.
A PLACE for the ARTS has survived through the shut-downs of 2020 and 2021 and has increased membership to 40 artists. Part of the Annex space is available to rent for members and non-members to exhibit their work. A great team of people are working together as the Executive Committee for the continued success of this artists co-operative.
The first was the closure of the Rural Roots restaurant, which was located next to the Art Gallery of Bancroft. The restaurant had become a favourite gathering spot for artists, writers and musicians, and when it closed its doors, creative folks in the Bancroft area felt a strong sense of loss. “Where will we meet?”
At the same time, stories began to circulate that the old Bancroft elementary school, just up the hill from Rural Roots, might be available for purchase from the school board for a nominal sum to serve as an arts and creative centre.
The two events felt like some kind of convergence, and it wasn’t difficult to draw 20 or 30 people together for a couple of community meetings in early 2014 to discuss the school conversion. It soon became clear that such a task would be much too costly in terms of necessary renovations and volunteer effort. But the seed of interest in creating “a place for the arts” in Bancroft had been sown, and a smaller group continued to meet. A church building outside town was considered, then a space in one of the buildings owned by the province along Highway 28 at the south west entrance to the city. Neither possibility panned out.
Then the group heard that an artists’ studio at the east end of 23 Bridge Street was going to be vacated in the late spring. The group approached the landlord, Burke Chamberlain, and worked out a lease for the street level shop space, a large second floor storage area, and a street level annex on the east end of the building.
Volunteer crews spent a good part of the summer cleaning, painting and doing minor repairs, and in August, 2014, A Place For the Arts opened. The shop space was to serve as an exhibition venue for a co-operative of 20 or so artists who paid a membership fee each month for the privilege of showing their work. For a separate fee, artists could also rent studio space upstairs and in the annex. The shop space, furnished with plenty of places to sit, soon came to serve as the gathering spot for makers and appreciators of art, as the founding group had hoped.
In the following spring, the meeting-place function was further enhanced when a small expresso and snacks bar opened in the space. And in the fall, the co-op decided to sublet the annex space to an anti-poverty group, the North Hastings Community Trust. The result was that the shop became a vital and often noisy place of comings and goings, friendship and debate.
Over the next several years, A PLACE for the ARTS continued to innovate in terms of its governance and policies, its membership structure and its programs. A new membership category for musicians was created. A popular weekly open-mike event, John Forman’s 7-11 Café, found a new home in the space, and attracted standing-room-only crowds. Writing and photography groups were established.
There were also searching debates especially around issues of art and poverty, and cultural appropriation which led to parameters being created regarding what art is appropriate to APFTA. A Membership Protocol of Exhibition Guidelines was established, which includes, “With respect to appropriation of First Nations cultural imagery and objects, APFTA will not exhibit sacred or ceremonial artifacts or items that can be confused with actual indigenous creations, unless created by an indigenous person.”
Other changes were also afoot. In 2017, the coffee bar expanded into a shop front next door to APFTA, with the intervening wall broken out to unify the spaces. Yoga classes and Qi Gong classes were held in the expanded space as well as fundraising parties and musical gatherings. At about the same time as the expansion, the North Hastings Community Trust had outgrown its annex sublet and moved to larger space in the same Bridge Street building.
These changes paralleled an evolution in the ethos of the shop space. As the departure of the Trust and the coffee bar led to a quieter environment, artist members began to discuss the establishment of a more traditional gallery ethos in the space, which was also driven by the financial challenges of funding two leases. By the end of 2018, the wall between the coffee bar (now The Muse Gallery and Café) and the gallery shop had been restored; The Muse becoming a fully independent enterprise.
APFTA then transitioned to an environment and business approach that focused less on being a gathering spot and more on the sale of art, including online listings. These changes helped both the organization, and the artists it served, weather the approaching storm of a global pandemic. Both APFTA and The Muse, sharing an entrance foyer, remain committed to synergy.
A PLACE for the ARTS has survived through the shut-downs of 2020 and 2021 and has increased membership to 40 artists. Part of the Annex space is available to rent for members and non-members to exhibit their work. A great team of people are working together as the Executive Committee for the continued success of this artists co-operative.
