Why I chose Winnipeg over Vancouver

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/04/2015 (3813 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I moved to Winnipeg only five months ago. By the end of my second week here multiple people, more than my 10 digits, apologized to me. Winnipeggers themselves were sorry I had to move here — like it wasn’t my decision, as if it was a fate hurled on to me in punishment of some misstep. I repeatedly replied, I was excited to be here and was really looking forward to my new job, which I pursued even before an announcement was publicly made for the position, and even though I had a good job in a city I liked.

I was hired. I resigned from my position as curator of the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver to become the director of artistic programs at Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art in Winnipeg. I had only been to Winnipeg once before, but I had known of Plug In for years and was drawn here because of its reputation and the incredible artists that surround it.

I knew I’d be coming to a city that has a long engrained cultural history where people believe in the arts. Vancouver has a strong and smart art scene with world-renowned artists, but I was tired of living in a city that had zero funds allocated to public art since it hosted the Winter Olympics in 2010. On the opposite scale, the Winnipeg Arts Council just received a measurable increase from the city that will continue over the next five years.

Winnipeg is a peculiar city. It is has a long history of leftist politics. The unions are still prolific and strong here. There are more credit unions than doughnut shops, which is a statistic I made up, but it seems accurate.

The provincial government is the last leftist government in place in North America, but was destabilized last winter by a dramatic resignation of five of its ministers. The people I meet here know their politics. Politicians are accessible, having an everyday presence. They feel like neighbours. Yet, the population is characterized by conflict. There is immense racism here toward aboriginal people. This was felt and acknowledged locally before Maclean’s magazine deemed it so. Mayor Brian Bowman’s response to the article seemed so lucid, as if his recognition was a viable way to begin battling the problem.

In this working-class, left-leaning, racist place, there is an abnormal abundance of cultural institutions from traditional organizations such as the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra to us at Plug In and the Winnipeg New Music Festival as well as more theatres than seems sane for a city of this size and an experimental film scene that has a long, strong and prolific history producing international stars such as Guy Maddin.

I want to be here and I want to bring artists here. I feel at home in a city that values culture and I love that I work in a place where we can host a performance lecture by Jeanne Randolph, a left leaning cultural psychoanalyst, to a standing-room only audience.

Even as the Jets fill the attention of most of the citizens of Winnipeg, with stories the returned hockey club has brought not only a spirit of togetherness to the city, but needed economic relief, I know it is the city’s commitment to culture and the arts that is its real value.

You may have seen the colourful “Send Your Child To Art School” posters around the city. It is an artwork by Canadian artist Rodney Graham, that Plug In commissioned. Even though it is a simple statement, it reflects a more general belief in the benefits of the arts, challenging common dismissals of artists and the arts as being non-productive contributors to society.

Even as the Jets fill the attention of most of the citizens, I know it is the Winnipeg’s commitment to culture and the arts that is its real value

Winnipeg is a place that is full of people and institutions that already understand and promote this belief and this is why I was drawn to this city.

 

Jenifer Papararo is the director of artistic programs at Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art in Winnipeg.