Vancouver brain drain Edmonton’s gain
Back in the day, artists left Edmonton in droves for the literally greener pastures of Vancouver – but now some of them are coming back.
Two good examples, anyway. It counts extra if they’re women, right?
“Yeah, of course it counts!” says stand-up comedian Kathleen McGee (above), who after four years living in Vancouver has recently returned to her hometown.
Also back in Edmonton is noted Canadian poet Catherine Owen, who lived here for a short time in the mid-2000s, after being born and raised in Vancouver.
Turns out there are more. A quick troll uncovered a handful of singers, dancers, authors, actors, visual artists and even a professional clown – all moved from Vancouver to Edmonton (or hereabouts) in recent years, for various reasons. I call trend!
Dear Vancouver: I love you but I’m leaving you
The main problem is the cost of living. Rent is outrageous in Vancouver. Only the rich can afford to buy a home.
“You can’t get a one bedroom for under $1,700,” Owen says. “That’s just not possible for artists to pull every month, also feed themselves, pay their bills, and God forbid have a little fun.”
Although these two women have never met (and now just happen to both live in the Alberta Avenue community), McGee in a phone interview says basically the same thing: “Vancouver is a nice city, but when you don’t have money there’s nothing to do there, and it’s just stressful.”
She says she’s heard a lot of Vancouver artists complaining about their beautiful expensive city. You hear the same thing about Hollywood.
Owen describes the feeling of trying to be a professional artist in Vancouver, “Artists under the age of 40 or 50 are really full of despair. Maybe that angst produces good art, I don’t know, but I’ve found it be more of a depressive kind of drain on people. Not many people go out, they don’t socialize, they have no money to spend, and they feel down about their dead-end situation.
“I feel like there’s a much more of an eclectic, powerful kind of energy in Edmonton, because artists are more able to live a human existence.”
McGee agrees, “We got tired of living paycheque to paycheque. There are so many more benefits to being here. The Edmonton comedy scene is insane right now They just opened the Grindstone Theatre, on top of three full time clubs and a bar comedy scene along Whyte Avenue, and on Jasper – it just makes sense to come back.”
McGee, who has been on CBC Radio’s The Debaters and performed across North America, will be headlining Yuk Yuk’s Oct. 19-20.
Catherine Owen, meanwhile, has already connected with artists in her artsy new neighbourhood, and has a lot of projects on the go, including her latest book of poetry, Dear Ghost. She’s also a rock musician, visual artist, model, stage hand, English tutor, and a filmmaker (though there’s not much film work in Edmonton, compared to Vancouver). She says she hopes to get into the sort of multi-disciplinary experimental arts “happenings” that drew a young k.d. lang to this city in 1980 or so – before the singing star moved to Vancouver a few years later. Edmonton’s famous punk export SNFU made the move West in k.d.’s wake. There were many others. Where are they now? Hey, come back here!
Soon, McGee jokes, there won’t be anybody left in Vancouver to serve the rich people their food – and “Edmonton is benefiting from it.”
Just one little thing: While both of our new arrivals agree that Edmonton is less “cliquey” than Vancouver, the main problem here is the terrible weather. It’s been a while since they’ve experienced a winter equally as frightful as being a starving artist in a warmer place. Maybe the swelling ranks of local artists can suffer together in a different way, by making art, because there’s nothing better to do in the Edmonton winter – making our city a little cooler in the bargain.
