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| Ottawa Folklore Centre (Google Streetview) |
The folk music
community in Ottawa, in Ontario, and, indeed, across Canada, was dealt a harsh
blow today with the announcement that the Ottawa
Folklore Centre has fallen into bankruptcy and has closed.
The announcement came
in a letter to the community (see below) from Arthur McGregor, who founded the Ottawa Folklore Centre in 1976 and
ran it with tremendous dedication and love for nearly four decades – most of
his adult life. As Arthur writes in his letter, it has been his life’s work.
The Ottawa Folklore
Centre was never just a musical instrument store. It was also a music school
where skilled musicians taught novices how to sing and play guitar, banjo,
ukulele, mandolin, fiddle and who knows what else. It published songbooks by
the likes of Stan Rogers and Bruce Cockburn and it was a community
gathering point. The Ottawa Folklore Centre was a place to drop in and hang
out. It was a great source of information about what was happening on the folk
scene. The Ottawa Folklore Centre was a beloved community institution that
nurtured and supported other community institutions – from the Ottawa Folk Festival to Canadian Spaces on CKCU to the Canadian Folk Music Awards, Rasputin’s Folk Café, Irene’s, the Black Sheep Inn, the Ottawa
Grassroots Festival, and virtually every other festival, concert venue and
music producer in the region.
But, noting all of that, and so many other incredible accomplishments,
doesn’t begin to address the real, lasting contribution of the Ottawa Folklore
Centre – which was to make folk music an accessible, affordable, participatory
part of people’s lives.
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| Arthur McGregor performing at the 2013 Ottawa Folk Festival. (Mike Regenstreif) |
I know that running a
business like the Ottawa Folklore Centre has never been easy. But it’s been
more than a business – for Arthur, in particular, but also for just about
everyone else who has ever worked there – it’s been a calling. Most of the
folklore centres I got to hang out as a young folkie – the legendary New York
Folklore Center, the Toronto Folklore Centre, and the Montreal Folklore Centre –
were gone by the 1980s. A select few – the Denver Folklore Center, the
Halifax Folklore Centre, and, until now, the Ottawa Folklore Centre, come to mind – have endured. I hope their communities
know what treasures these places are.
I have some idea of how
tough it’s been for Arthur to keep the Ottawa Folklore Centre going over the
past number of years. And while most business-oriented people might have called
it a day long ago, Arthur kept on keeping on because, deep down, he knew how
important the Ottawa Folklore Centre has been to our community.
Thirty-eight years!
It’s been a great run, Arthur. The entire folk music community is giving you a
well-deserved standing ovation for all that you’ve done and accomplished with
the Ottawa Folklore Centre.
Arthur’s letter:
Thursday, July 23, 2015
There are few things more important to me than folk music and the deep
community that it engenders. I have dedicated most of my life to this
community. For the past 38 years the main symbol of that dedication has
been the Ottawa Folklore Centre. I opened it on Bronson Avenue in 1976 and
later, Terry Penner, my late wife, and I moved it to its present location on
Bank Street. These thirty-eight years have not been easy but I have continued,
with the help of family and friends…hundreds, in the face of many challenges
and been proud of what we have accomplished. I have persisted in upholding the
original vision of the OFC as a true centre for musicians to come together as
well as a centre for teaching. The pursuit of this vision has meant much
personal sacrifice over the years and the road has been far from easy. But it
has been my life’s work and I am particularly proud of the esteem the community
has held for this work and this vision. That esteem was gloriously on
display when it first became known that the business was running into trouble
last year. A benefit concert was held which raised enough money to keep us
afloat for a while. This outpouring of love was humbling and
heart-warming at the same time. It is because of this love and community
support that the decisions I now have to make are so onerous and
difficult.
In recent years the challenge of keeping the OFC alive has been steadily
increasing to the point where the impact on my personal life is no longer
bearable. It has become quite clear that in spite of our on-going efforts
and personal sacrifices, this business is simply not sustainable.
We have sought much professional advice and explored several options. I have
pursued possible buyers of the business, real estate agents to see if
sub-leasing parts of the building is feasible, hired consultants to help
organize the business to reflect current realities. We have worked with
community organizations to share programming. I have tried everything I know to
keep this business afloat. I have invested all the money that I have available
to me. I have nothing left to give, monetarily or physically.
With sales recently weakening as the summer arrives, the final decision has
been made for me.
Effective July 23, the Ottawa Folklore Centre Ltd. is declaring bankruptcy and
will be in the hands of a bankruptcy trustee, Ginsberg/Gingras. There will
be customers, students, staff, suppliers, and teachers who will not
understand this choice and who will lose earned income and payments for lessons
and goods that The Folklore Centre will not be able to honour. I apologize for
this. It is not for lack of trying.
Arthur McGregor
--Mike
Regenstreif
