On February 28th, fellow Heart of the City organizer (and Boyle McCauley News board member) Rachael Roberts and I walked in the door for the opening night of Club 97, located in the old Brittany’s Lounge space at 10225 97th Street in the Shoctor Building. 

After walking through a long corridor past the door, we turned and entered the club. The house was packed, with standing room only. Everyone was dressed to the nines for a Caribbean Reggae show featuring Skystar and the comedy of Sterling Scott. Rachael and I danced and mingled and had a lovely night listening to live music in the new performance space.

The opening of Club 97 was a big success for Colin Campbell, who has been working on getting the club ready for months. I sat down with Colin before the opening and talked about his desire to animate The Quarters.

“In five years we hope that Club 97 can be a staple, and influence more and more venues to open in The Quarters.” Colin said, “We believe that this could be the start of something special, to really kickstart The Quarters as the arts district that this [area was] always meant to be.”

“We are doing this on a limited budget. That is the beauty of grassroots projects that you can do a lot on a small budget. We believe that we can activate spaces with not a lot of capital. Grassroots projects come with people who have ideas and passion and a drive to do with little and see how it grows over time.”

Colin added, “We will be having a jazz jam to honour the history of Brittany's. We have a grand piano. We are going to be doing music and art events, it will be a multidisciplinary arts space.”

Colin’s space is offering an open jam every Monday night starting at 8 p.m. and as of the publication of this article the club will host a weekly slam poetry night called, “Tuesday Slam” starting at 7 p.m. and running until 10 p.m. Slam is competitive poetry. There will be an open stage and a slam in which poets will have the chance to compete for the glory of being the ultimate slam champion at the end of the season. 

Colin is open to talking to folks who are looking for space to run arts and cultural events. “We want to work with grassroots organizations. We will be working with equity seeking groups. The Quarters was always promised to be a place for the arts. It takes a lot of time and understanding to get backers. Equity groups could really take over and make this the coolest neighbourhood in the city.”

Corine Demas lives in McCauley where she is the President of the McCauley Community League, the President of the  Heart of the City Festival, and a board member with Boyle McCauley News.