There is something for everyone
The Guelph arts scene is rich and varied, even overwhelmingly so. But there’s no need to worry – you’ve got four years, and possibly more, to explore it. Sample widely and savour. This lamentably brief guide will get you started.
Three general recommendations: (1) Check bulletin boards frequently, on campus and downtown, for the latest events – there’s simply no online equivalent, especially since many events are one-offs. (2) Get to know downtown – familiarize yourself with the core and get a sense of the surrounding area, by bike or by bus (you’ve got that bus pass – use it). In terms of art in Guelph, downtown, for the most part, is where it’s at. (3) Stick around for the summer. It might become somewhat lonely with most of your fellow students at home, but if you can find a job, there’s no shortage of exciting arts events during the warmer months, not the least of which is Hillside, Guelph’s near-legendary music festival. And during the summer, campus displays its beauties best.
Visual Arts
Pay a weekly visit to Zavitz Gallery on the second floor of Zavitz Hall (right across from the UC). New work, mostly by U of G undergrads, goes up every Monday, although the openings, where you can meet the artists and snag some free food, usually occur on Wednesday or Thursday evenings (check posters to be sure). Take a tour of the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre at the north end of campus and stroll through the sculpture park. The School of Fine Arts and Music (SOFAM) frequently hosts public talks by visiting artists both major and obscure – check the College of Arts homepage and bulletin boards in Zavitz and Alexander Hall for details. In the Winter semester, get cozy in War Memorial (WarMem) for the Shenkman Lecture in Contemporary Art, and wash it down with a wander through the Open Studios of upper-year undergraduates and students in Guelph’s esteemed MFA program.
Theatre
During Orientation Week, head to the George Luscombe Theatre (GLT) in MacKinnon (Room 101, close to Johnston Hall) for the O-Week One-Act Play Festival. Produced by the Drama Student Federation (DSF), the O-Weeks (and the companion Sno-Weeks in January) feature original student work, and are often designed, rehearsed, and performed in a little over a week. The School of English and Theatre Studies (SETS) produces a large-scale Mainstage show in the GLT every Fall and Winter, and the venerable Curtain Call Productions stages a major musical in WarMem every Winter. For something more unusual, attend the “409” Directing Class Festival in the Fall and the Ensemble Class Festival in the Winter. Massey Hall is where you can check for upcoming events, sign up for auditions, and receive notifications from the DSF. Off campus, notable theatre fixtures include entrepreneurial jesters The Making-Box Comedy Company, whose improv and stand-up shows routinely pack the ANAF club on Gordon St., the Guelph Little Theatre, and the education oriented First Light and To Be Determined Theatre Companies. The Bookshelf also screens performances from the Royal Opera House, and both the south and north-end Galaxy cinemas show performances from London and other major theatre centres.
Cinema
For students, especially on or close to campus, the best deal going is Sunday Cinema, usually held in either Thornborough or WarMem, which screens everything from blockbusters to indie darlings for under five dollars with your student card. Docurama on Thursday evenings is a good bet too, playing all the most interesting new documentaries for free. The Bookshelf cinema on Quebec St. is the place to go for film fans, screening new indie cinema, new documentaries, classics, and cult favourites. It’s conveniently located downtown and every student gets a free membership, which means four dollars off movie tickets. Check the Bookshelf’s monthly magazine, Off the Shelf, or bookshelf.ca for listings. If it’s not in cinemas and not on Netflix, check the University Library’s surprisingly substantial AV collection on the second floor (unfortunately, loans are one night only).
Music
Start the semester right by soaking up the sweet sounds of the Guelph Jazz Festival early in September (check guelphjazzfestival.com for details), storing stamina all the while for Nuit Blanche, held simultaneously, featuring unusual and lovely music and art events in the wee hours of the night and morning. Throughout the year, Silence (46 Essex St. near Gordon and Waterloo, just south of the downtown core – newly renovated and expanded) is the place to go for sounds strange and exciting. Whether raucous and loud or hushed and reverent, Silence events seldom fail to interest, and the space also plays host to the Department of Lost Records, featuring new and used vinyl and cassettes, including a healthy selection of local artists (check silencesounds.ca for times). Vinyl lovers should also visit Royal Cat Records located inside Meow! on Carden St. across from City Hall. Watch out for instalments in the Kazoo! concert series, which recently celebrated its eighth anniversary, and the annual Kazoo! music festival in the spring. The best way to discover new music on campus? Tune into Guelph’s campus and community radio station, CFRU 93.3fm (check cfru.ca for schedule). Also check the SOFAM homepage for upcoming recitals and instalments in the Thursday at Noon Concert Series.
Literature
If words are your passion, don’t miss the Eden Mills Writers Festival (edenmillswritersfestival.ca), soon after the Jazz Festival, which sees top writing talents from Canada and the world descending upon the bucolic hamlet of Eden Mills for a festival of open-air readings. Although the beloved Macondo Books closed up shop this past summer, Guelph readers remain blessed with a few really terrific bookstores. The Bookshelf on Quebec St. supplies all one could ask for in terms of new hardcovers, paperbacks, and magazines, not to mention that it’s attached to a café/restaurant, another restaurant, a bar, and the best – indeed only – boutique cinema in Guelph. Take advantage of the free membership that you receive as a student. Janus Books, tucked in the Market Fresh plaza, is now downtown Guelph’s only used bookstore – good thing it’s got a wicked selection, most of which is in practically mint condition. A brief trip farther afield will take you to the jam-packed Sunrise Books (366 Speedvale – take Bus 12 General Hospital from downtown). Comic lovers, meanwhile, flock to The Dragon, located in the Quebec St. Mall. Take a bookbinding workshop at PSGuelph, Guelph’s only print on demand bookstore and publishing house (located in Silence, check silencesounds.ca for hours). Vocamus Press provides a variety of services for the local literary community. Check their literary events calendar at vocamuspress.wordpress.com. Schedule a visit during the Fall with the writer-in-residence or one of the numerous writers on faculty. And on Thursday mornings tune into Books for Breakfast on CFRU 93.3fm, hosted by the lovable Dan Evans.