The Pulse
Nov. 25, 2021

City council has approved close to $215,000 in grants for local non-profit and grassroots organizations to tackle racism — with more than a quarter of the funding going to arts-based projects or organizations.

"When you try and handle some of these subjects through the arts, then you're helping humans connect with something complex," Shalini Sinha, chair of the city's anti-racism advisory committee, told Taproot. "You have more of a chance of seeing deeper layers in the human experience, and you have more of a chance to ask what needs to happen next.

"We all know a movie, a play, artwork, or a song that stayed with us for a long time — that we kept thinking about and that impacted our lives. And so I think that's one of the reasons why the arts-based projects had a bigger impact."

The advisory committee was established in late 2019, and city council approved $300,000 in funding for an anti-racism grants program. The aim is to make Edmontonians more aware of racism, its impact, and how to take action to address it; raise awareness of community organizations that are working to dismantle racism; and build a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable city.

Sinha, founder of Inclusiv, explained that the committee was focused on determining whether projects could have a lasting effect on developing anti-racism in communities across the city. Fifty-two applications were received for this first iteration of the annual program, and 16 were funded.

The arts projects that received funding include The Black Bookshelf Project, which provides schools and early education centres with easy access to books and resources written and developed by Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color, and Ribbon Rouge Foundation's ArtSpace: Telling ACB Stories for Change, which engages African, Caribbean, and Black-identified people.

• Edmonton police are investigating a collision between a vehicle and an LRT train that occurred in the morning of Nov. 24 between Coliseum station and Clareview station. The driver of the vehicle has been hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.
• The 27th annual ETS Stuff a Bus campaign launched Nov. 24 in support of Edmonton's Food Bank. Edmontonians can donate via text, online, or in-person at participating Save-On-Foods locations.
• Expectant mothers in parts of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are being transferred to Edmonton due to staffing shortages at the Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife. While AHS has confirmed that Edmonton has capacity to accept patients for the next two months, some expectant mothers are sharing their concerns and challenges associated with the last-minute change.
• Oilers star Connor McDavid and his girlfriend Lauren Kyle welcomed Architectural Digest for a tour of their Edmonton home designed in partnership with Design Two Group and featuring finishings from local metalworker Forge 53. Local production company Urban Video shot the video tour.
• About 1,500 vaccine appointments for children had to be cancelled and rebooked due to a glitch on the Alberta Health vaccination booking site. Four pharmacies, three in Edmonton and one in Airdrie, were incorrectly added to the booking list for pediatric vaccine appointments when booking opened Nov. 24.

On this day in 1926, two universities were gearing up for a debate to be held at Edmonton's Pantages Theatre.

The intellectual sparring match between the University of Alberta and the University of Cambridge was one of the many events held at the historic downtown theatre, which was built in 1913 on the corner of Jasper Avenue and 102nd Street by Alexander Pantages, the influential Greek entertainment mogul. It was one of a string of theatres that Pantages built across Canada and the United States to welcome a circuit of vaudeville shows that started in Winnipeg.

Pantages partnered with a local businessman, George Brown, to design the Brown Block – a proposed skyscraper that would house the theatre as well as offices. The original plan was to make it 10 storeys tall, although the ambitious partners designed the foundation to support 15 floors. In the end, only two actually got built, but it was enough to house Pantages's grand theatre.

While the outside of the brick Brown Building might have been underwhelming, the interior was lavish. The theatre could seat 1,600 people – an impressive number for a city that was just shy of 70,000 people. Italian marble, Chinese silk, and hand-painted murals offered rare extravagance. Thousands mobbed the front entrance on opening day.

The theatre hosted many of the most popular vaudeville performers of the era, including Sophie Tucker, Stan Laurel, and Buster Keaton. But by the 1920s, tastes had changed. Pantages pulled Edmonton off of the touring circuit, and Brown converted the theatre into the Metropolitan Movie House to feed the demand for film, with a handful of live acts and lectures.

Financial troubles caused the theatre to close in 1929. It sat empty until two years later when it was purchased and renamed The Strand Cinema. The new owner, Alex Entwhistle, added sound equipment. While it focused mainly on film, the stage was still used by local opera and theatre companies.

As the decades passed, the Strand became a meeting place for Edmonton's gay community. Before gay bars, the city's LGBT community often had to find discreet places to meet, known mostly by word-of-mouth. The back row of The Strand was once described as having "a lively back row, but is definitely not recommended except for the most brazen and desperate of people," playwright and historian Darrin Hagen wrote in a piece for Edmonton City as Museum.

The Strand was designated as a provincial historical resource in 1976 and limped into the final days of 1978 before being shut down. Despite its status, it was torn down to make way for the Enbridge Tower.

The Pantages was one of the birthplaces of Edmonton's theatre community, which has grown to be a vital part of the city's culture. While live theatre, like most things, has been deeply impacted by the pandemic, the community seems to be coming back full force, with companies hitting the stage once more with sold-out shows.

This is based on a clipping found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse — follow @VintageEdmonton for daily ephemera via Twitter.

• FITFEST, an interactive fitness, health, and wellness event, is at West Edmonton Mall's Ice Palace on Nov. 26-27.
• Winter Whyte Light Up 2021, hosted by the Old Strathcona Business Association, will light up McIntyre Park on Nov. 27. In addition to the light displays, there will be performers, food and drinks, and farmers market vendors.
• Timeless holiday classic A Christmas Carol will hit the Citadel Theatre stage on Nov. 27 and run until Dec. 23.
• The St. Albert Indoor Christmas Market makes its annual return on Nov. 27, and every Saturday afterwards until Dec. 19.
• Catch the Kingsway District Association's holiday parade along Kingsway Avenue on Nov. 28.
• Moonshot 3 by Pro Coro Canada choir will use "vocal music to address the use and abuse of nature" on Nov. 28.

Photo: The Citadel's 2019 performance of a Christmas Carol by David van Belle. (The Citadel Theatre/Ian Jackson)