Bye, Bye, Bi-Way
By John Swartz
Remember the Bi-Way store? Some do. Some only know it as an empty eyesore, a blot on the downtown by virtue of the relative space it occupies on the block of Mississaga between West and Andrew Streets.
Anitta hamming is going to make all of it go away, the faded memories of where many shopped, and the recent ones of how far things can go downhill because she just signed a 15 year lease on the building and renovations are starting imminently.
Two questions should immediately come to mind, what’s it going to be, and who is Anitta Hamming?
The wording on the sign will read Creative Nomad Studios. She describes it in a slick business plan as “A co-work space for creative entrepreneurs and innovators.” Over many conversations Hamming laid out the details of her concept, how it will function, who are the kinds of people that she expects will utilize the studio and what she’s going to do with the exterior of the building.
“It’s a co-work space for anybody. If you‘re somebody who works at a desk and you have a laptop you can use this space, but it has a focus for creative entrepreneurs. These spaces are specifically set for creatives, for somebody who does printmaking, or you’re a 2 dimensional artist, the cleaner arts, not industrial arts (e.g. metal sculpture), anybody who is a creative entrepreneur regardless of what your creativity is from an architect to an events planner. It’s really about the energy of this space,” Hamming said.
So painters, sculptures, quilt and print makers, crafters, and the usual types of visual artists will be able to find a place to do the things they can’t do in the backroom or basement of their homes. But it doesn’t end there. Graphic artists, video game makers, photographers, videographers and podcasters will also find room and support facilities to work in. The list is almost endless and Hamming, while planning for the usual kinds of things most artists think of when looking for a place to work, and coming up with some things she thinks artists will find attractive, is open to proposals from anyone interested in using the studio.
“I’m saying, these are my ideas, this is my structure, because financially it has to make sense to me, but if people come to me and they say, ‘hey listen, if you did this thing it would be usable for us, I can look at that and go – you have a group that has this interest, OK, and you have ten in your group and you want a 4 day a month membership, or a one day a month membership, if it makes sense I can do that,” Hamming said.
Membership, that’s the plan for making it viable. She has 9 plans outlined ranging from a day pass for spur of the moment users, to power users who want dedicated space and several or long-term days of use. She’s offering high speed internet access, coffee and tea included, mail drops, a lounge and kitchen. There are other services that can be used like locker or cabinet storage, a retail facility for whatever it is you make, printing services, there’s a boardroom for meetings and she’s even going to offer group insurance and benefits. In short all the things a solo artists/creator lacks working out of a garage.
So, who is Anitta Hamming? She came here 4 years ago from Barrie, before that Toronto, after calling it quits on her company.
“I was self employed. I was a business and marketing consultant, as well as a business coach,” Hamming said. She worked with everything from multi-nationals to mom and pop operations, creating marketing plans and even building websites. Her expertise in graphic arts came from her ability to paint, which she’s done for a long time.
Perseverance by Hamming, 3rd place FCA, Vancouver.
“All my life, but when I came to Orillia I refocused on painting because I had quit my (work) life, and then moved here. I focused on doing exactly what I would tell people I was coaching to do,” Hamming said.
She applied and was accepted to become a member of the International Guild of Realism, the Federation of Canadian Artists and the Ontario Society of Artists, got juried into some international shows with those organizations – and in April was awarded third place at the Federation of Canadian Artists juried art show in Vancouver.
“I just started painting and producing a body of work, but what am I going to do besides this, and where am I painting? The whole thing started from a perspective of, “Where’s my studio?” and then it was, “Well, where does anybody have a studio?””
One thing usually leads to another which brings us to how and why the Bi-Way building. Finding the place wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
“Walking up and down Orillia’s main street and thinking, look at all the spaces.” Hamming said. “I’m walking by the Bi-Way building and walking around it,” thinking, “Why is this empty? It’s big and could be something amazing.”
Of course, where one sees possibilities, others wonder if it’s time for new glasses.
“Everybody I talked to kept saying to me it’s a falling down wreck, don’t even think about it,” she said. But, she had support for her grand vision.
“With the love and undying support of my fiancé (John Menear), without him cheering me on, literally encouraging me every step of the way, I would not be doing this because it’s crazy. Who does this?” The thing which also propelled her toward creating the studio was she was also taken seriously by a serious group of people.
“The first person I spoke to from the City was Tim Lauer and he connected me to the mayor, and he connected me to economic development who connected me to other people. Every single department, every single person has been amazing. They met with me, they’ve taken time with me, they’ve had coffee with me and they’ve been great,” Hamming said of her experience with City Hall.
This leaves details of exactly what she’s going to do with the building and it starts with the exterior, at least from a public point of view. Recently the neighboring and matching, building, the Swinton Building, became the subject of a renovation project. At one time both buildings looked exactly alike.
“My vision for the façade is not necessarily that they are the same, but there’s a synergy between the two spaces,” Hamming said. That’s because at some point the second story picture windows were replaced by smaller ones and a substantial amount of brickwork replaced the remainder. Limestone accents were also removed. “Chris Montgomery (owner of the Swinton Building) and I will be talking so that we can create synergy between the fronts.”
It’s going to take a few hundred thousand dollars to renovate and install everything (like ample electrical outlets, computer and phone cabling) and provide the furnishings and fittings (like over sized sinks, large work tables, portable divider walls and desks for everyone.
“The structural and the mechanical engineers have already been through and as have been contractors to give me numbers,” she said. Tearing out what is there is going to start immediately.
Inside, the main floor will have a combination of open concept workspace and partitioned workspaces and closed in offices. There will be a retail area near the front entrance as well. The main floor will be accessible to all and she’s trying to make the second floor the same.
“I am exploring how to make the 2nd floor accessible. Right now it’s money. I can do a commercial lift. The plan is to figure out where that goes,” said Hamming, who is applying for federal grants for a portion of the cost.
The second floor will only have a few offices near the front of the building and the rest will be wide open. This is where she intends to have everything in place to serve photographers, videographers and anyone else who needs room to work in. With more than 4,000 square feet there’ll be plenty of space. She has, among other creative professionals consulted a well-known photographer to draw up a plan and equipment list to make anyone behind a lens happy. She even intends to install modern lighting that should give shooters tons of ideas.
“It’s set up so anyone from the novice photographer who wants to rent a studio to a professional photographer,” said Hamming.
“I’m bringing in a company called Nanoleaf. Each studio and each space will have this lighting technology that will be individually controlled, it can be any colour, any tone, it can be set to music, they work off of your phone and I can do whatever I want to the lighting.”
If all goes according to Hoyle, Creative Nomad Studios will be open late fall this year. Between now and then she’ll be lining up people to become members and create something other communities already have which has been lacking here. She’s brought in Stephanie Whalen to handle some of the membership drive and manage programming when it’s up and running. Whalen did similar, but not as extensive, programming at her The Loft, studio above where Patilero was located.
“That lease ran its course and Anitta convinced me that this I was a really good idea. I really didn’t want to work alone anymore,” said Whalen.
“I’ve been asked by a number of local teachers if I would implement some creative art programming which I wasn’t able to accommodate at the Loft that doesn’t compete with what OMAH is providing already.” Hamming said there’s more to Whalen’s role than signing up memberships and creating workshops and other programming.
“Maybe potentially working with the RTO7 tourism group; how do we as Creative Nomad Studios work with RTO7 and all the other potential groups in Orillia to create tourism in November, December, January, February, March, there’s opportunity to be had. I don’t know what all of that looks like, that’s really in Steph’s brilliant mind,” Hamming said.
The bottom line is Hamming saw a need from her own desires which many other artists have expressed time and again Orillia needs and took the bull by the horns. She thinks the arts community is ready to stop hibernating and only coming out to show what they’ve been working on.
“The thing is as an independent, especially when people are starting out, especially in the creative arts and stuff like that, people are very much in their own space. There isn’t a place where people are gathering.” She believes in the concept rising tides lift all boats too. “My attitude is not that I have to be successful at your expense (or) I’m only successful if you are not, there’s lots of room for everyone to be successful.”
(Images Supplied, Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia)
