Café provides new hub for artists
By Veronica Newbury
Some local Ottawa artists will soon have a new hub to make, show and sell their work in one space when a novel café opens its doors to the public on Feb. 10 on Somerset Street West.
According to Genevieve Betournay, arts director and one of two minds behind The Art House Café, the business will do more than brew a good cup of coffee.
“We want people to come and meet other artists in the community and be a space that inspires collaborations to happen,” Betournay said.
The café, housed in a renovated 140-year-old building, will offer spaces for meetings and workshops, gallery area to showcase local artworks and access to different kinds of equipment so that artists can produce their own creations in-house.
Betournay said she thinks creating this hub will help artists bring a project to fruition by giving them the resources to get it done at a lower cost.
“Often cost can be a barrier to people trying something or exploring something new because equipment can be expensive. It’s hard to pick up a hobby because you have to make an investment,” Betournay explained. “If we have the stuff they can use without (them) necessarily buying it, people will find out more easily what they want to get into.”
Ottawa-based artist Maria-Hélèna Pacelli said the city doesn’t suffer from a lack of studio space, but it isn’t always accessible for all. Some artists have to work from their own homes to avoid the cost of renting out a studio space, Pacelli noted. The café could mean a larger and more accessible area for artists to do their work.
Pacelli said the café also has the potential to fill a gap in the Centretown arts community following the closing of The Daily Grind, an arts café and pub on Somerset Street West located just a few doors down from The Art House Café that burned down in October of 2015 during a fire that engulfed three other businesses.
“It’s in a neighbourhood where there isn’t a lot of subculture ever since the Daily Grind burned down. There’s a bit of a gap in spaces that make art accessible,” said Pacelli.
Both cafés represent a growing trend of blended businesses in Ottawa that combine food or beverage services as well as a space for arts and culture.
These multi-purposed businesses providing more than one service to customers.
The Art-Is-In Bakery, an eatery on City Centre Avenue that showcases local art, and Bank Street’s House of Targ, a pinball machine bar and concert venue, are just two of the many businesses like this popping up around the city.
Avonlea Fotheringham, manager at Black Squirrel Books and Espresso Bar on Bank Street, said she thinks the reason behind the trend has to do with the consumer need for something different.
“I think in Ottawa there’s a really big interest in creating really dynamic and unique businesses,” explained Fotheringham.
“It’s not just about making a good cup of coffee anymore. People can get coffee from anywhere,” she said.
“What we offer is something a little bit different.”
For Beautournay, the trend has something to do with society’s shift towards “doing their own thing.”
“A lot of people decide they like doing something, and now with the Internet and other resources people are able to run their own show more easily. These kinds of spaces help people feed into that.”