Calgary’s cSPACE, a network of converted historical buildings that now serve the arts community, is in growth mode.Supplied
With housing costs still outpacing incomes in major city hubs and creatives competing with commercial businesses for real estate, accessible arts spaces are increasingly in decline across the country.
Nearly anywhere you look, there are examples. After 34 years in its original location, the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto is being displaced for condo development. In June, Calgary’s Evergreen Theatre closed after more than three decades because of financial struggles. In July, Halifax’s Darmouth Gallery shut down after 12 years, when the landlord decided not to renew the lease.
In a 2024 national survey for the Canada Council for the Arts, creatives cited a decrease in revenue alongside an increase in expenses as a primary source of their struggles: 85 per cent of organizations that operate a facility or venue reported rising operating costs, while 52 per cent of creative groups and individuals stated that the amount of opportunities to share their work in person has decreased. The vast majority said its been challenging to continue working in the arts at all.
But, as the old saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Here are six arts entities in Canada that have employed creative solutions to secure space.
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Typist Studios & Coffee, Toronto
Typist’s café helps cover the rent and foster community in the Annex neighbourhood of Toronto.Supplied
In March, 2023, poet Nicole Bhersafi started renting the unit that now houses Typist Studios & Coffee in the city’s Annex neighbourhood. It was bigger than what she’d been looking for, but surprisingly affordable because it was slated for development in two years time. To help fill the space, she asked a group of artist friends to go in with her. Thus, Typist was born.
There was already a coffee bar at the front of the space, and Bhersafi, who had previously worked as a barista, decided to sell coffee to subsidize the rent. The spot became so popular she turned Typist into a full-fledged café. Before she knew it, people weren’t just stopping in for coffee and leaving, they were hanging out, socializing and creating art. Realizing she had the opportunity to facilitate a nurturing space for local creatives, she decided to shift her focus to operate the unit as a full-time café/art studio.
Today, behind the café space there are five 110-square foot studios, which Bhersafi rents for $500 a month. A couple of them are shared so there are presently nine artists using the space.
Typist also has five studio spaces for artists, and the café is used for creative programming during off-hours.Supplied
The main room is rented as a venue in the café’s off hours. Bhersafi also hosts creative programming in the space, including film screenings and a collage night.
She was offered a two-year extension on her lease in November, 2024, when the developer decided it wasn’t yet ready to begin construction. When that time comes, she hopes to relocate Typist.
“This isn’t even just about artists needing space. This is about people getting the value of sharing time together by virtue of creativity,” she said.
Knox Hall, Sudbury, Ont.
The conversion of an old church into concert venue Knox Hall has helped attract talent to Sudbury.Supplied
Two years ago, architect Dan Guillemette and his wife, Liana Bacon, converted a nearly century-old Presbyterian church into a concert venue they called Knox Hall.
Knox Hall includes a loft apartment upstairs to provide accommodation for touring musicians.Supplied
Bacon, who has lived in Sudbury all her life and long been involved in the arts, noted there has always been a strong creative community in the city, but before Knox Hall there was no singular venue to draw talent to the area.
Knox contains two performance spaces: The upper hall (325 seats) and the lower hall (60 seats or 180 standing), which includes a bar. Upstairs, Guillemette and Bacon built a loft-style apartment where performing musicians can stay overnight.
The venue hosted its first show in late 2023, and Sudbury music festival Up Here used it for the first time in 2024.
In May, 2025, Bacon and Guillemette hosted Knox Fest, a two-day event with a lineup of exclusively local musicians. “It was really fun and really well attended,” said Bacon. “Now agencies are starting to connect with us on names that I never dreamed we could have, so our programming is evolving.”
JellyBean House, St. John’s
Renovations to turn a signature St. John’s heritage building into a creative hub with an artist residency program are expected to be done by spring.Supplied
In the heart of downtown St. John’s on Duckworth Street is a bright red building. It’s one of the oldest in the area, with a 130-year-old known history. Standing about 30 metres from the harbour, it made an inspiring prospective location for commercial developers when it became vacant at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Noel O’Dea, president and founder of East Coast marketing agency Target, purchased it, and with his agency, came up with a plan to convert the property into a three-storey creative hub and residency program for artists who work in advertising and beyond.
Fondly named JellyBean House in reference to the colourful rows of houses in downtown St. John’s, the building is under renovation, set to be complete this March.
The interior has been completely renovated, while the exterior facade has been preserved, including a restoration of part of the large stone wall that runs the length of the building.
Once completed, the building will feature residential apartments on the upper floors to host international visitors for residency periods of up to six months. The ground floor will operate as a performance space and resource centre where locals can host exhibitions and shows for the community.
“It’s an opportunity to bring people who are highly talented, who have a big creative contribution, to Newfoundland, where they can contribute to the local community and lead by example,” O’Dea said.
cSPACE, Calgary
With the success of the Marda Loop venue, seen during cSPACE’s Culture Days in 2017, the arts organization is hoping to acquire more historical spaces owned by the City of Calgary.Supplied
Calgary has recently lost prominent art spaces including Evergreen Theatre Society and the Artpoint Gallery and Studios.
cSPACE, founded in 2011, aims to fill the gap with a growing network of historical buildings converted into art facilities. The group develops and manages creative venues in Calgary, including the 47,000-square-foot Marda Loop art gallery creative hub, and runs the SpacePilot program, which matches underused commercial spaces with artists and non-profits.
Marda Loop is built on the site of the city’s King Edward School, a 100-year-old sandstone building that served as a prominent historical landmark until the Calgary Board of Education closed its doors in 2001. It remained vacant and derelict for 11 years before cSPACE purchased the land use of the site. The subdivided property now houses more than 35 multidisciplinary arts tenants, a co-working space and bookable event spaces, including a 138-seat theatre. In 2025, it hosted more than 780 community events and activities.
cSPACE is looking to acquire two new historical properties owned by the city, the Historic Fire Hall 1 (HFH1) and North-West Travellers (NWT) Building, which the municipality has identified for arts and culture development.
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Arts Habitat, Edmonton
In Edmonton, the Ortona Armoury once served as a stable for Hudson’s Bay Company delivery horses, but now hosts four full-time arts tenants and rents out studios.Supplied
In 2018 the City of Edmonton wanted to rehabilitate its historically designated Ortona Armoury building for community use and asked non-profit Arts Habitat to consult on the project and manage the space afterward.
Arts Habitat managed two arts facilities at the time, both of which were at maximum capacity. The Ortona Armoury, once a stable for the Hudson’s Bay Company’s delivery horses, presented an opportunity to expand that reach to a larger network of creatives.
Officially reopened as ArtsHub Ortona in December, 2024, the property remains owned by the city and is operated by Arts Habitat under a 10-year lease. The organization rents out 19 studios to artists for periods as long as a year, licensed at $1 per square foot each month – a subsidized fee thanks to funding from the city.
The main floor also features four bookable spaces that host various community events and performances as well as four non-profit anchor tenants: Punctuate! Theatre, Alberta Media Production Industries Association, the Arabic Club for Culture and Arts and the Broad View International Film Festival.
Cruikshanks Unplugged, Halifax
A decline in indoor funerals during COVID-19 lockdowns prompted Cruikshanks Funeral Home in Halifax to reach out to an open-mic host to make use of the space. Cruikshanks Unplugged was born.Supplied
Many musicians have cut their teeth performing at an open mic in Halifax. But these events tend to take place in smaller venues, such as bars, says Noah Tye, who hosts a series of open mics around town and manages the Halifax Folklore Centre.
“You can find an open mic almost every night of the week in Halifax,” he said. But, he added, “it’s mainly a bar scene until you’re at a level where you can rent out concert halls. For up-and-coming artists, that’s not an option.”
In March, 2021, Caroline McQuillan, an employee of Cruikshanks Funeral Home, reached out to Tye to inquire if he’d host an open mic in the funeral home, since they weren’t having many funerals in the space owing to COVID-19. There was no sound system, so music would have to be performed acoustically. “I’ve been a musician now for 25 years, and funeral homes don’t often reach out to you to run gigs,” he said with a laugh.
He reached out to other local musicians to see if there was an appetite for it and came up with the name Cruikshanks Unplugged. The first month he ran the event, 20 people signed up to play, totalling 35 people in the room with viewers. More than four years later, Tye continues to run the event once a month. At their anniversary open mic in June, 43 people performed to 120 audience members.
It’s a one-song-each format, so Tye aims to feature as many people as he can in the allotted time, and if they run a half-hour longer, no one is angry. Wishing to support the community, the funeral home owners don’t charge him for use of the space. “There’s not anything in it for them other than to provide a space for the arts,” he said.
The owners of the funeral home don’t charge for use of the space for Cruikshanks Unplugged.Supplied
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Typist Studios & Coffee has six rentable studios, and that poet Nicole Bhersafi runs creative programming in the café space during off hours. There are five studios, and Bhersafi hosts the programming. The article also incorrectly stated that cSPACE was founded in 2012 by Deeter Schurig, and currently houses more than 350 multidisciplinary arts tenants; it was founded in 2011 with Schurig as a member of the founding team, and houses more than 35 arts tenants.