"In the middle of the large"

I can't recall the last time I was inside the Western Front. I know it was before the pandemic; before the Media program was shuttered; and before the departure of the Curator of Exhibitions, whose position remains vacant -- or has it been extinguished?

For years the Western Front (est. 1973) operated without an Executive Director, when the owner-artists more or less called the shots, writing cheques for themselves when it was felt to be justified, appointing each other to curatorial positions in Media, Exhibitions, Music, Literary, Performance, carrying on like Vikings at Uppsala. Caitlin Jones was the first Executive Director hired after thirty-plus years "under" an often-beleagured Office Manager (I recall one past Manager's claim that she was the "Curator of Budgets").

One of Caitlin's greatest accomplishments was negotiating the transfer of the Western Front from its remaining owners to the Western Front Society, a sale enabled by cultural amenity money provided by a nearby condo development, and assisted, it should be said, by owners who sold at the property's assessed value versus what it might have received if the property was listed low enough to excite a bidding war. (I can remember a time when the owners boasted that when they passed they would leave their shares to the Society.)

The current ED, Susan Gibb, has yet to distinguish herself in this capacity, though as is sometimes the case, a cutting board has to be scraped and cleaned before any of us might chop vegetables on it. Many believe Caitlin did this work, but clearly the current ED and board feel there is more to do. Just how much the Front is saving in curatorial staff salaries has yet to be reflected in its program. But of course we have Covid to blame for that.

Such a pissy lead-in to what I sat down to write about this morning, and that is last night's inspiring event at the Western Front's Luxe, in honour of the poet-critic Fred Wah. Organized by incoming Capilano Review Literary Editor Deanna Fong (picture up top), the event featured readings by some of Deanna's student associates from Montreal, in addition to senior poets Louis Cabri (from Windsor) and Danielle LaFrance, not to mention Fred himself, who appeared both "live" and in archival footage -- one tape from a 1974 Luxe reading, another from 1985. 

As it was at the People's Co-op Bookstore the night before, it felt good to be in a room with readers. And what a room the Luxe is! Whoever decided to keep the room unlit (save for a single spotlight over the microphone), with the windows open and the slowly dimming night sky beside us, deserves credit (I looked behind me at one point and saw Susan standing near the light switch). But that's always how the Luxe readings were done, Robert and Helga reminded later that night over dinner. Yes, but it has been so long since I was last there. It's like I was experiencing the place for the very first time.