I Am YEG Arts: Christy Morin

Twenty years ago, Arts on the Ave founder and executive director Christy Morin dreamed of a community transformed into something beautiful through the arts. Now celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the Kaleido Family Arts Festival — Arts on the Ave’s fall festival — Christy’s vision for the Alberta Avenue area’s future through the arts remains unwavering and strong as ever. In this week’s I am YEG Arts story, Christy tells us about her connection to the arts, what she’s most excited for at this year’s Kaleido Fest (Sept 5 – 7) and what’s next for Arts on the Ave. 

Tell us about how you got your start in the arts as a performer, then as a producer. 

My life has been very immersed in the arts. My parents really encouraged us as children to be involved in the arts. I was involved in choir and music lessons, theatre and drama, and all those good things. 

I went to the Campus Saint-Jean at the University of Alberta and have a double degree in Langue et Literature and drama. After I worked for Canadian Airlines for a while, and kept on doing community theatre. I directed a couple of Fringe plays way back in the day and was a stage manager as well. 

I taught in the school system as an artist in residence, and I was there for nine years, doing a K to 6 curriculum in drama for elementary school children in French and English. During that time, I was also involved with the beginning of Arts on the Ave. It came to a point where I had to decide what to focus on, and I chose to do the latter. 

Looking back to 2005, what was the impetus for founding Kaleido Arts Festival, Deep Freeze: A Byzantine Winter Festival, and Arts on the Ave Edmonton Society? 

It was all about figuring out how we could edify the community through the arts. I met up with Anita Lenny, and both of our dreams and visions were to see the Avenue transformed in a creative way. A driver for me was how to see beauty in the community. It was a very sad, devastated community, and some wonderful people lived there who just kept on trying but couldn’t figure out what would work. We put a little note in the community newspaper, the Rat Creek Press, calling for creatives to gather, whether a potter, maker, jeweler, musician, an opera singer, etc., because I was really committed to mixing the arts disciplines. 

A whole whack of us artists living in the neighbourhood decided to come together and do a festival. Our first festival was in October since there weren’t many fall festivals at the time. We did it on Thanksgiving weekend, and it was called Arts Alive. Chris Hayes, Scott Peters, Chris Wynters, and so many people were just like, ​“We’ll bring in lights; we’ll set up a stage.” It was pretty significant to the neighbourhood to start seeing something so great. Members of Captain Tractor played, and that was awesome. Around 500 people attended that first year. 

We didn’t shut down the Avenue back then. It was in the old George’s Cycle building and the Alberta Ave Community League and parking lot. 

The 20^th Kaleido Family Arts Festival takes place this weekend, September 5 – 7. Tell us about what excites you most about this year’s festival. For folks who are new to Kaleido Fest or haven’t been in a little while, what would be the best way to dip their toes? 

I love it when we shut down the avenue and the kids run free, and people can chat in the middle of the street. It’s just so pedestrian-focused. This year is a homecoming; it’s our 20^th, and we’re inviting folks who haven’t come for years and who maybe have moved out of the neighbourhood to come back. 

Each day of the festival has its own distinct feel. Sunday is much more like a community day, and there is street animation the entire time. The Aurora Lantern parade on Friday night is going to be stunning. People can come make their lanterns, and over the years, we’ve had folks who, all through the year, are working on their lanterns to bring them to the festival to be able to have them out. It’s blocks and blocks of people bringing light into a community and celebrating the community. 

And then on Saturday, the visual art galleries are beautiful. There’s a grand piano inside the Nina, and there will be pianists playing all day. There are workshops. I love being part of that. I love Trace a Face, which is basically this big frame, and one person goes in front of it and you trace and gesture draw their face, and then you swap, and the other person will now draw your face. It’s a really intimate moment in the middle of a festival. 

This year, we have Giant Street Calligraphy with Jia Jia Yong and Paul Giang. That’s going to be on the roadway with giant calligraphy and incredible music. We have the Takwakin (“Autumn” in Cree) Village with Indigenous artists, musicians and dancers. 

Sunday will have big choirs, lots of big bands coming on the main stage. Captain Tractor is coming on Sunday in the middle of the day. We also have the Kaleido Show & Shine with antique cars reflecting the soul of the neighbourhood. That day, we also mix the arts with thrifting, with the Junk in Your Trunk sale. 

Something else new we are doing is the Filipino Pavilion Sining Stage sponsored by the Filipino Arts Council. It’s a focused cultural piece with a showcase of art, music, and dance. 

In addition to festivals, Arts on the Ave operates the Carrot Community Arts Coffeehouse, which offers year-round programming. Tell us a little about what makes it such a special space. 

When I was in my first year of university, I was dreaming with my girlfriend Monique of what we could see ourselves doing. She reminded me many years after the Carrot was born: ​“Christy, you dreamt of having a coffee house. You actually called it a coffee house, not a café that was an art space, and you wanted everyone from all walks to be there.”

The Carrot was birthed out of the festivals because we were meeting in each other’s homes and were always seeking somewhere to meet. The City was committed to four years for the revitalization of the Avenue, and the arts weren’t part of the initial revitalization plan. It was us artists who started coming forward, and we really lobbied for arts to be part of the plan. 

In our search for a space, we stumbled upon an old Portuguese bakery. We got a revitalization grant from the City. We had six months’ rent, a vacuum cleaner and an espresso machine, and that was how we started the Carrot. If we had actually done a business plan, we probably never would have started the Carrot. 

It’s now 18 years old, which is crazy. Volunteers are the heart of it; they’re the ones serving and helping our manager, Edwin, with the gallery wall. We have a volunteer Carrot committee that comes together with their different skills and backgrounds to give direction and support. The managers going back to the early days are amazing people. Our volunteers come from so many different walks of life and get trained to make excellent coffee from really good beans. 

Tell us more about the importance of fostering artistic expression and community engagement and what it means for Alberta Ave communities. 

We’re all creatives, and community development through the arts taps into that. It’s not just building a festival; you are in a community that’s creative and desires to see change. Even people who are searching so hard for who they are. Often, the arts will tap into them. 

Recently, there was a major issue in the community rooting from a housing initiative near the Carrot. It had become an incredible bee’s nest of crime. The community was getting angrier, and their voices were getting stronger. Arts of the Ave brought together the Edmonton Police Services and different community groups. We started to talk about how great it would be to connect with the residents and for them to realize that they are community members and they are citizens of the community. Jeff Collins, whose gallery is close to the Carrot, was like ​“Christy, if you can find some money, I can do this. I used to do skills training through the arts.” We received a grant for it through the Edmonton Arts Council and one through the City, and we were able to do our first intake this past spring. About a dozen residents participated, and their lives were so touched by Jeff and his team. They’d come to Collins Studio Gallery three times a week and had an exhibit in June. After the program, the group led a clean-up in the neighbourhood, and one of the participants is now teaching the art that Jeff taught him. We’re looking to do the second intake in the fall. When you’re able to find people who care so much like Jeff and you find people who are so willing to be vulnerable, like those residents, that’s where the beauty happens and lives are changed. 

What else are you currently working on, and what’s next for you? 

We need a building, and now is the time for Arts on the Ave to lead this project. There have been so many iterations and things that have happened in the past, but we’re looking forward. We’ve been lobbying and looking at building our development team so that we can actually put in a strong RFP and begin the project. It would be a live/​workspace with four or five stories for artists and creatives of all types, and then the main two floors would be the Carrot, a black box theatre space, rehearsal space, an Indigenous space and offices. So that is a big project. 

About Christy Morin 

Christy Morin, a 2024 King Charles III Coronation Medal recipient, is a visionary and director with an unwavering passion for the arts. As the founder (2007) and current driving force behind the Kaleido Family Arts Festival, Deep Freeze: A Byzantine Winter Festival, and Arts on the Ave Edmonton Society, Christy has dedicated herself to enriching the cultural tapestry of the Alberta Avenue District community and the city of Edmonton as a whole. 

With boundless enthusiasm, Christy champions the vibrant Alberta Avenue District, a community she calls home. Her commitment to fostering artistic expression and community engagement is evident in her tireless efforts to bring the arts to the doorstep of residents. Christy’s work has not only enhanced the cultural vibrancy of the district but has also inspired countless individuals to embrace and celebrate the arts. 

Residing on the Ave, Christy has invested a significant portion of her life and energy into creating opportunities for artists and art enthusiasts to connect, collaborate, and flourish. Her dedication to building a thriving artistic community is a testament to her unwavering love for all things art. Christy’s leadership and vision have transformed the Alberta Avenue District into a hub of artistic creativity and cultural celebration.