Boyle Street has a new venue for the arts. Bohemia, an artist-run organization known in the Edmonton arts community for putting on live music shows and featuring the work of local artists, moved to 10217 97 Street and officially opened its doors on October 21.

Bohemia is more than just a venue for live music and art – it is an attitude.

With its relocation to 97 Street and 102 Avenue in October, this is the third physical move for the establishment. Originally located on 110 Street and Jasper Avenue, the place was known as Bohemia Cyber Café (the storefront still exists at the empty location). Owners Granger, Sheena, and Steve were Bohemia’s first customers – in fact, Granger and Sheena became employees at the cafe.

When that location closed in 2009, the three of them continued to host shows at a variety of venues like basements and garages over the past couple of years, especially the popular art+muzak monthly variety shows. Then, hoping to find a permanent home, Bohemia moved into the Blue Sky Art Lofts in Queen Mary Park for a few months during the summer of 2011.

However, it was not to be. “The space in Queen Mary Park was not zoned to have a fully-licensed venue,” explains Sheena. “So, we found another space that would satisfy our (and Edmonton’s) needs, in the heart of downtown, with Churchill Square, the Citadel Theatre, Winspear Centre, Alberta Gallery of Art, and Shaw Conference Centre as our neighbours.

“The new space is close to transit, in the heart of the Arts District and revitalization zone, and has better acoustics,” adds Granger.

Bohemia is an appropriate name for the venue, as the owners strive to create a space that is truly bohemian, aimed at artists trying to both showcase their work and make a living. “Bohemia is a place where people check their egos at the door and have access to the arts without the ‘hoity-toity’ or restrictive atmosphere of a lot of galleries and venues,” says Sheena. “On the flip-side of the coin, Bohemia tries its darndest to make sure artists and performers get paid – all of us (owners) have been artists/musicians, and know how hard it is to make money doing something artistic.”

“I love Bohemia because no one owns what it is. We may have a funky venue called Bohemia but everyone is a bohemian the moment they take control of their happiness,” says Granger.

For co-owner Steve, Bohemia holds a lot of history for him artistically. “I was in a band called Warehouse District, and we played our first gig at Bohemia, way back in 2005. That was when I first felt that Bohemia was something special, and we have been chasing the dream ever since. The gig I played was our very first monthly art+muzak show as it turns out, something we now do every month and have ever since then!”
The fact that the owners are artists themselves helps maintain the raw, unpretentious feel of Bohemia, as well as the values behind it. “I have no formal training in 99 percent of what we do to run Bohemia. It’s primarily thinking creatively with the other owners and just doing what needs to be done, consistently and without fail,” says Granger. “Also, I really hope to see other people open venues that don’t just cater to one small subdivision of society, so we can get back to living life as openly and enjoyably as we can!”

Steve adds that the ability for the owners to work together has helped maintain Bohemia over the years. “We are kind of punk rock business types, and it can be hard dealing with bureaucracy at times. However, we are getting ninja-like in our abilities to deal with challenges as they present themselves to us. The power of teamwork keeps Bohemia afloat.”