Perhaps it’s appropriate that Ottawa’s most talked about nighttime event so far this year didn’t take place in a club or a bar, but at an establishment with a far more staid reputation.
That didn’t dampen anticipation among Ottawans of all ages when the Museum of Nature opened up its doors for the first Nature Nocturne on Jan. 26. Marketed as a DJ-assisted dance party amid the exhibits, the soirée went on to garner reviews ranging from rave approval to outright dismissal.
The museum’s transformation into a pseudo-club (albeit one with a tragically flawed bar system) was lauded by many in the community for both its ability to draw in a younger crowd and its unconventionally amusing atmosphere.
However, that appraisal wasn’t unanimous, and those who regularly peruse Vice.com probably stumbled across a particularly vitriolic – and patently unfair – review written by a Carleton University student.
The writer is a prime example of the demographic that is most likely to express its discontent at such events – and towards Ottawa’s cultural offerings in general. And while the article may have elicited enthusiastic praise from some people who read it as a cathartic response to the city’s all-too-often uninspiring nightlife, the piece had some serious flaws.
To start, its criticisms largely failed to extend beyond mean-spirited and superficial jabs at the appearances of certain attendees – their weights, ages and attire are all inspiration for a series of cheap shots that have no bearing on the merit of the event itself. It seems that the editors of Vice have realized this too; the article was quietly pulled from their website after igniting a firestorm of comments.
More significantly, though, it overlooked a much more relevant theme – that it can sometimes feel like there’s a significant gap in the city’s entertainment scene after dark.
The people who tend to complain about that phenomenon are, more often than not, students. They’re the ones who, after having lived in Ottawa only a few months, may label it as “boring” or “uptight.” They also belong to a population typically marked by transience – a definition best supported by frequent declarations of their intent to vacate the city as soon as their academic sentences are up.
I should know. I’m well known for expressing that very sentiment. But I do so with full awareness of the fact that my hypercritical grievances regarding Ottawa’s artistic and cultural landscape will, beyond the agreeable nods of my peers, fall on deaf ears.
That’s in part because those arguments are admittedly emotional, poorly crafted, and unsupported by any real research (not unlike that Vice article).
In reality, however, Ottawa has plenty to bring to the table if you’re willing to take advantage of institutions such as the NAC and the Ottawa Little Theatre. Or, if you look a little harder you can easily find less-publicized events put on by those in the community who are working to change Ottawa’s image as a stodgy government town. They run the gamut from enterprising blog editors to concert promoters, and because of their efforts, there’s an ever-growing supply of sufficiently hip diversions fit for even the most dubious would-be revelers.
Perhaps the writer of that disparaging review had a point and the metaphorical fanny-pack to handbag ratio at Ottawa’s late night functions is somewhat above the norm when compared to other major Canadian cities.
Maybe the buttoned-up civil servants who come out after dark aren’t the same figures that populate the most Bacchic dreams of the city’s 20-something crowd.
But at the end of the day, a city’s character can’t be expected to change simply to entertain waves of newcomers, who will be gone at their first chance, especially. With some imagination, it’s easy enough to find fun or create your own.
So to those who might lament a lack of quality nocturnal amusements around town, perhaps it’s time to rethink whether or not the city should – or ever will – conform to your tastes. Or better yet, maybe it’s time to change it for yourself.