Independent and colourful
By Richard White

If you’re a fan of the Calgary Folk Festival, you’re also a fan of Kerry Clarke, the festival’s artistic director. Over the past 18 years, she has shaped it into Calgary’s “other” signature summer event. (This year’s Calgary Folk Festival takes place July 21-24 at Prince’s Island Park.)

Clarke’s entry into the independent music world took place in the mid-1980s — first as program director for Victoria’s campus radio station CFUV, and then with Calgary’s CJSW.

In her youth, she also spent time playing drums in an all-female pop band. A co-founder of Calgary’s Afrikadey festival, she recently travelled to Rwanda to help organize the inaugural KigaliUp festival, which will be held in Kigali, Rwanda, in September.

A tireless cultural champion, Clarke has served on the boards of numerous arts groups. She was also a member of the 2008 Aboriginal Juno Celebration production team, co-chaired Calgary’s 2008 Juno Legacy committee and is currently the co-chair of Music Calgary.

She’s also chair of WRAD (Western Roots Artistic Directors) and hosts the CJSW Radio program Alternative to What? whenever she’s not travelling to conferences and festivals. 

Clarke and her partner of 19 years, artist and musician Steve Johnson, share their home in the southwest inner-city community of Sunalta with three brown tabby cats.

Question: How would you describe your home? Kerry Clarke: It is a 1910 inner-city house, white with teal trim. It looks a lot like the simple cartoon-like drawings of a house that a child would bring home from kindergarten. It is three storeys and is divided into two suites. We purchased it from the son-in-law of the original owners. Being from a pre-tax era, he didn’t want to pay high capital-gains taxes, so set the house price at a level where he wouldn’t jump into the next tax bracket — he sold it to us for only $115,000 in 1995. There was another offer on the house at the same time as ours, from a woman who wanted to run an office out of it. Our real estate agent sold him on us being a young couple who might have children, so he accepted our offer.

Q: Which room is your favourite? K.C.: I love my living room. It has purple, Jetsons-like furniture, yellow and orange walls and walk-out windows to a front balcony. It is a very playful room, very child-like. It’s a great place to relax.

Q: Who designed the room? K.C.: Steve and I did it ourselves. We took out the carpet when we bought and had the original soft wood floors sanded. Since then, the balcony’s been renovated and we had a closet taken out, which made the small room a bit larger and exposed a small window that was hidden. It was pretty simple.

Q: What were the challenges? K.C.: It’s small, narrow and north-facing. The small windows make it difficult to get much light into the room, especially in the winter. We did the best we could by taking out the closet to get another window. We didn’t want to lose the charm and character by making too many changes.

Q: What is your favourite aspect or part of the room? K.C.: I love colour — the brighter the better. The furniture was all purchased at the now-defunct Abode furniture store on 11th Avenue. It is very funky, colourful and playful, which works for me — not sure many others could live with it. Luckily Steve can.

Q: What do you do in the room? K.C.: I love to read, watch movies and just play with the cats.

Q: What is your favourite piece of furniture in the room? K.C.: It’s a purple (my favourite colour) couch called The Batman — short, wide and with a high back that goes into wings. It’s really firm, roomy and comfortable. I love that it looks like something out of the ’60s.

Q: Is there anything you would change about the room if you could? K.C.: I’d love to make it larger and put in bigger windows, but I’m not sure how to do that and preserve the historic character of the house.

Q: What do you like about the community you live in? Have you seen it change since you’ve moved there? K.C.: I love living in Sunalta and being able to walk or ride everywhere — 17th Avenue, Downtown, Prince’s Island, Inglewood and Kensington. I love the mix of apartments and old houses, the old and new. The community has changed mostly as people renovate — usually in an interesting way that respects the houses’ histories. Because it’s downtown, it’s a bit gritty, which people often mistake as being dangerous, but that is not the case. I feel comfortable anywhere in my community.

Q: What do you like most, and least, about living in Calgary? K.C.: I love the diverse, vibrant, creative arts scene and the sense of community and camaraderie between artists. I love our big blue sky and the amount of sunshine we get.

I am always impressed by the DIY attitude of Albertans and artists. What I’m not so keen on is the proliferation of SUVs and monster trucks. I also wish we had better bike lanes and a friendlier attitude toward cyclists.