Attracted by jobs, cheaper lodging, higher entry to nature and safer roads, Toronto’s artists and cultural employees are leaving the province
Illustration by Paige Stampatori
Final 12 months I wrote a NOW cowl story about what number of inventive individuals left for smaller cities in Toronto after six months of the Toronto pandemic. Unemployment was excessive, the eviction moratorium was over and all the pieces that made the town so nice – gastronomy, tradition, festivals and sports activities – was on maintain.
A 12 months and some extra lockdowns later, the identical exodus continues. However as an alternative of shifting to the cities of Ontario – locations from which they may simply journey to Toronto if crucial – a brand new technology of individuals are leaving the province for different cities solely: Halifax, Vancouver, Calgary.
A metropolis is partly decided by its artists and cultural employees. However the truth that life as we all know it has been placed on maintain has compelled many of those creatives to search for different issues: a greater work-life stability, higher entry to nature, a extra sustainable lifestyle.
“We’re paying the identical quantity for a two-bedroom condominium right here as we’d for a one-bedroom condominium in Toronto,” stated Nancy Kenny, a Toronto author, actress, and producer who went to Halifax in July.
“Water is in every single place and the seashores are superb,” says Nancy Kenny, who moved there in July.
Halifax Harbor
“And we’ve got a lot more room. Exterior there’s water in every single place. The seashores are superb. “
Holly Meyer-Dymny, a theater and movie designer, and her companion Kevin Olson, a theater stage supervisor, moved to Halifax almost a 12 months in the past after having had Toronto as their base for many of their lives. They usually all agree that being near nature is an enormous plus.
“We’re very, very near the forest,” says Meyer-Dymny. “In Toronto you must drive two or three hours to get to a significant hike. From the place we’re proper now, we’re 4 minutes by automotive to the town middle. Inside 10 minutes I could be in two enormous provincial parks and a dike. “
Chris Peters, the true property agent for Halifax and Dartmouth, estimates that Royal LePage Atlantic has bought a few third of its properties to individuals in Ontario. One of many apparent perks is affordability – the price of a home in Halifax is roughly $ 460,000, about half what you’ll at present pay in Toronto.
Peters, who moved to Nova Scotia from Toronto in 2004, at present lives together with his spouse within the Japanese Passage, a small fishing village close to Dartmouth.
“Dartmouth can also be referred to as the Metropolis of Lakes as a result of wherever you’re, you’re not more than 5 minutes from a physique of water – a lake or the ocean,” he says. “You even have kilometers of nature trails and climbing trails.”
Extra jobs
Entry to nature is one factor. However what about entry to jobs, particularly within the inventive industries?
In Toronto, Kenny, a veteran of the Fringe Circle, taught a brand new play on the Passe Muraille Theater this 12 months and attended a studying of a brand new play at Tarragon. With the cinemas closed, she turned extra to tv and movie, auditioning for commercials and single-line roles on tv.
“In Halifax, I audition for all the reveals which can be shot right here for normal collection roles, that are rather a lot juicier and extra fascinating,” she says. “Two casting administrators right here know who I’m and recurrently invite me to audition.”
Each Meyer-Dymny and Olson had labored within the Theater der Maritimes earlier than they moved. And whereas a few of their contracts needed to be postponed or canceled due to the pandemic, they will each simply change to movie and tv.
The tv and movie trade in Halifax is booming. One of many the reason why so many reveals are recorded there, says Peters, is the number of areas: You could have fast entry to the town facilities, but additionally to rural areas and fishing villages.
Meyer-Dymny and Olson say there was an exquisite neighborhood spirit following the COVID-19 protocols.
Realtor Chris Peters says the typical value for a house in Halifax is $ 460,000 – half what it could pay in Toronto.
Downtown Halifax
“You might really feel the neighborhood contracting, there was this actual neighborhood spirit,” says Meyer-Dymny. That is in distinction to her Little Italy neighborhood in Toronto, the place she was afraid of strolling round Trinity Bellwoods Park and the neighboring cafes as a result of they have been so full.
Maytal Kowalski has lived in Toronto since 2002. She works in digital and conventional advertising for charities and nonprofits; She can also be a circus performer. She was employed for a job in Vancouver final December, and he or she and her husband – who works within the hospitality trade – moved there in March. You could not be happier.
Extra to do outdoor
Though Vancouver’s price of residing is on par with Toronto’s, she says there’s a lot extra to do – particularly throughout the lockdown.
“You possibly can normally do rather a lot in Toronto, however final 12 months I at all times thought, ‘Why am I paying a lot lease to reside in a spot the place I am unable to do all of the issues I needs to be doing?’ She says. “No less than in Vancouver there’s nature. We hike each weekend, and when it is sizzling we go to lakes or the seaside. At present I’m going stand-up paddle boarding.”
An avid bike owner, Kowalski remains to be wired as she remembers her each day commute from Bloor and Excessive Park to Entrance and Sherbourne, tram tracks, harmful left turns and the very severe risk of getting a door.
Whereas Vancouver’s price of residing is akin to Toronto’s, there’s extra to do exterior there, Maytal Kowalski says.
Vancouver
Within the 5 months she has lived in Vancouver, she has cycled rather a lot and by no means needed to ring the doorbell.
“Vancouver just isn’t the Netherlands, it is nonetheless a really car-centric metropolis,” she says, “however they’ve a lot extra bike infrastructure.”
If anybody took full benefit of Toronto’s cultural scene, it was theater critic and artwork reporter Carly Maga. As a author for the Toronto Star for the previous six years, she recurrently appeared in additional than 100 reside reveals a 12 months.
Even earlier than the pandemic, she had thought of leaving downtown Toronto.
“I noticed I did not want all of the issues downtown has to supply,” says Maga, who moved to Calgary along with her companion final spring, the place she is senior supervisor, advertising and communications at Arts Commons, the premier efficiency middle -Artwork of the town.
“I did not want 1,000,000 new eating places and wished to purchase actual property, however I could not afford to purchase downtown,” stated Maga, who moved from Ottawa to Toronto in 2006 to check at college.
“For instance, I used to be considering of shifting from the core to a spot like Hamilton. After which the pandemic occurred and I did not wish to purchase something whereas it was going. That slowed issues down. ”
Gradual it down
Sarcastically, it turned out to be a great factor to decelerate. And it made the concept of shifting extra accessible and tangible.
“In our space [theatre], you get into this rhythm the place it is actually arduous to cease, ”she says. “You are so enthusiastic about issues and you are like, ‘Oh, I am unable to cease as a result of I actually wish to see this present.’ When the pandemic occurred, it made me decelerate and take into consideration what I wished and what labored and what did not. ”
The Commons has its personal program arm and contains resident ensembles akin to One Yellow Rabbit and Alberta Theater Initiatives. Maga says that Calgary “actually is above its weight by way of the quantity of cultural exercise that takes place right here”.
Life in Toronto can provide artwork lovers an inflated sense of cultural superiority.
Carly Maga moved to Calgary this spring and says there’s a lot fascinating occurring exterior of Toronto.
Downtown Calgary
“It is really easy to get right into a Toronto bubble and keep there,” says Maga. “However so many fascinating issues occur exterior of Toronto. And in Calgary, one of many issues we’re engaged on is encouraging artists, particularly these from communities which can be underrepresented on many large phases, to remain. Many really feel they must go to Toronto or Vancouver to earn a residing. ”
Kenny, of Halifax, is passionate in regards to the performing arts scene in Halifax and Maritime. The day earlier than I spoke to her and her companion, set designer Wes Babcock, she recorded a play referred to as Good Grief a few non-binary little one and her two homosexual uncles. Earlier than the pandemic, the Neptune Theater featured the primary trans and first non-binary actress on a stage at a regional Canadian theater.
A spot to start out one thing
“Halifax is the form of place the place you’ll be able to have an thought and begin one thing,” says Babcock, who’s beginning his structure diploma at Dalhousie this fall.
“There are sufficient individuals and the church is alive sufficient to take off. Toronto has 10 of all the pieces and three of them may very well be good. Halifax might have one of all of them. Not all of these items might be good, however there are sufficient of them that you may be pleased. And if you actually need one thing, you go to what’s not so nice. “
What’s at present lacking in Halifax, nonetheless, is a queer bar. Menz & Mollyz, the town’s final remaining LGBTQ + bar, might be closed in April 2020.
Which brings an interesting twist. Of all of the individuals I interviewed final 12 months who left Toronto, just one has returned to the town.
Actor Nathan Carroll purchased a home in Stratford final fall and moved in December. He stayed there for 5 months, however determined to lease it out and, profiting from the decrease rents in Toronto, discovered an above-ground condominium right here. His important drawback was feeling remoted as a homosexual, single man in a small city.
“As a result of I moved in December, Stratford was closed and I could not even see my buddies,” he says. “I reluctantly left Toronto as a result of I felt like I used to be being squeezed out. But it surely made me actually miss issues in regards to the metropolis, particularly at my age, as a single, not in a very secure profession with one route.
“There are fairly a couple of gays in Stratford, however principally they’re {couples}. There are merely extra straight singles in each smaller city and it’s more easy for them. I see myself shifting again to Stratford in some unspecified time in the future, however in all probability when I’ve a companion and a extra secure profession. “
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