Future of studio collective Freestanding Room uncertain as it prepares for eviction
Marissa Blair and her colleagues were in the middle of devising a 10-year plan for the studio collective they manage on Montreal's St-Laurent Boulevard when they learned they would have to vacate the space by the end of December.
After 15 years, the Freestanding Room will have to find a new home while the building owners carry out renovations.
"To have our roots firmly set and then to feel them start extending and then to —" Blair says while yanking at the air. "It's a visceral thing."
For artists like Blair and Joseph Shragge, the studio is an affordable option in a city that they say has been feeling increasingly unaffordable.
"When we haven't had a lot of funding, it was always an option to work out of here," says Shragge, the co-artistic director of Scapegoat Carnivale Theatre.
"In some ways this is a symbol of an end of an era of Montreal's reputation for having incredibly low rent, cheap spaces, empty spaces where people can do artistic work and that's obviously changing," he says.
Shragge first became a member of the collective in 2011 and over the years has used the space as an office, rehearsal hall and venue for five shows.
Joseph Shragge says the Freestanding Room is one of the last studio spaces in Montreal that artists can access for relatively cheap. (Sharon Yonan-Renold/CBC)
Around 25 members help run the space every year, paying either $70 a month for 10 hours in one of the studios or $100 a month for 20 hours. Non-members can also rent the studios on an hourly basis.
That model has helped cover the monthly rent of $2,214 which Blair expects will go up once renovations are completed — whenever that is. She says she understands that the building is old and in need of repairs.
"We're not arguing that point but it puts us in a very precarious position because we don't know what the space is going to look like when it's offered back to us after renovations," she says.
"Because we don't have any answers, we have to prepare for the worst."
So far, that has meant reaching out to other organizations in Montreal to see how the collective can live on.
Ryan Bommarito, another actor who also administers the collective alongside Blair and two other people, says that so far they've received a lot of support and that some people have even reached out with other spaces they could potentially use.
"There's been a real sense of re-establishing community especially after the pandemic that's been very heartwarming and hopeful," he says.
The Freestanding Room is divided into two studios which artists can rent out on an hourly basis or by subscribing to a membership. (Sharon Yonan-Renold/CBC)
One last show
The four walls of studios A and B at the Freestanding Room have seen a lot of firsts for Montreal creatives. Blair kick-started her career as a performance artist there back in 2019.
"I walked in and it was like a dream come true," she says. "I was allowed to make work freely, I was allowed to create without restraint."
Bommarito performed the first play he ever created in Montreal at the Freestanding Room, called Tomorrow which he produced along with his collective Hooks and Crooks.
Over the years, actors, playwrights and other artists have used the Freestanding Room to write, rehearse and perform shows. The last show will happen on Dec. 30. (Sharon Yonan-Renold/CBC)
On Dec. 30, artists will gather for one last performance inside the studio called The Reminiscence to celebrate the space's history and impact on the community.
But Bommarito says it's only goodbye for now.
"The Freestanding Room is not literally this space," he says gesturing to the studio around him.
"It's a bit of that concept of finding spaces that are essentially made by the community for the community and finding ways to ensure that it's serving and that it's affordable."
He says he's hopeful that wherever they go next, they'll be able to apply the lessons learned and secure their longevity so that they can say: "This works and it can work for decades."
