From the Archives: Globe Studios
From the Archives: Globe Studios
Don't miss your chance to tour Globe Studios and meet local artists.
While I am excited to have recently launched Citified here on Substack, I have had the opportunity to write on other platforms. I hope to occasionally share some of my past writing through my ‘From the Archives’ feature. For the first edition of ‘From the Archives’ I want to share a piece I wrote for The Community Edition in 2018 about Globe Studios.
If you are not familiar with Globe Studios, they are “a not-for-profit arts and culture organization providing safe and affordable working spaces to artists and arts organizations based in Waterloo Region”. You can find them in the former Bonnie Stuart Shoe Factory on Whitney Place in downtown Kitchener.
And if you have never had a chance to visit the Studios, you are in luck! Their summer open house and art show is happening next weekend (Friday June 24th, 4-9pm, and Saturday June 25th, 11am-4pm). This is a great opportunity to see this unique and creative space and speak with the artists working there.
As I described (in 2018) in The Community Edition article about Globe Studios:
“Our mandate at Globe is to provide affordable, suitable, safe space. We have kept the rents low, through some very lean times. We’re essentially self-sufficient because what finances all of this is the rent from the studios,” Stefanescu said.
“Right now, we have almost no turnover and we have a very long waiting list. Some people have been on that waiting list for four years. There’s a severe shortage of affordable space for artists in the Region.”
Stefanescu also noted that the liveliness of the makers’ scene in KW is being stifled due to a lack of space.
Essner echoed the need for more space, specifically for artists.
“We have a really diverse, vibrant group of creative people [at Globe] and there are tonnes more in the community that don’t have a space who are either working from home or renting in a non-art type of environment where typically there is a much higher overhead and the biggest thing about being there is just being part of a group,” Essner said.
He stressed that being around people that do different types of art can produce collaboration.
“It’s been a great experience,” Essner said. “I can’t really compare it to anything else locally. It is definitely unique in this area. We could have three times the space and still be full of artists. We aren’t struggling to find artists to fill our studios, that’s for sure.”
“The beauty behind Globe is the community seeing that there is this cohesive group of creative people and it’s not just what we’re doing in the building,” Essner said.
“We’re out in the community as well. [We encourage the community to] recognize what we do and see the potential to do it elsewhere.”