Calgary arts original Eugene Stickland launches his renaissance with CSpace residency in Eau Claire

Poet, playwright, novelist and publisher Eugene Stickland is hosting a book launch for his play The Innocence of Trees Wednesday at Shelf Life Books. (Photo: Stephen Hunt)

The Eau Claire Neighbourhood Hub is about to get a little more neighbourly over the next two weeks for Calgary artists of all stripes.

That’s because the venue is the site of a unique residency being hosted by playwright, publisher, novelist, poet and true Calgary arts original Eugene Stickland.

Stickland, who was Alberta Theatre Project’s (ATP) Playwright in Residence 10 years in row, had a hit play in Istanbul and launched B House Publishing, will be in residence starting Monday.

He’s having a drop-in from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. as part of his “Welcome to My Renaissance” residency.

Throughout the next two weeks, Stickland will host a roster of Calgary’s arts luminaries, including visual artists Chris Cran, Cindy Delpart, Darrin Hartman, and Frank Scott, poets Derek Beaulieu and Sheri-D Wilson, singer-songwriter Tom Phillips, and cellist Morag Northey.

On March 12, Stickland will host Stardale Program director Helen McPhaden for a curated screening of the award-winning video The Road.

The program, which caters to adolescent Indigenous girls in the Calgary area, helps bring the girls’ ideas and poetry to the stage. Stickland has worked with them for 11 years. The Road was created in response to the findings of the Commission on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women, written and performed by the girls of Stardale 2020.

On Monday evening, March 11, Stickland will convene a forum about B House Publications and what might be the future of books.

Thursday evening March 14, he’ll welcome Phillips, to talk about his song “Lack of Rain,” a song that inspired Stickland’s new novel.

In its own way, it figures to be an eclectic survey of the evolution of Calgary’s arts scene over the past 30 years, from the birds-eye view of many of its finest creators.

“By the end (of the residency), you would hopefully have a pretty good idea of what has been,” Stickland said recently, over coffee at his beloved Café Beano in the Beltline. “And maybe what will be.”

For more information on the Welcome to My Renaissance residency, which is free, go here.