Real estate in Toronto had gone through the roof. We looked all over Toronto, in ever-widening circles. Finally, in Mimico, we looked at a ghastly place. Judith said “There’s an interesting building in Hamilton that Ron saw in the listings.” We figured we were halfway there. “How do we get to Hamilton?”

We didn’t end up buying that building, though we tried. We did, however, see the house of our dreams, at a price we could actually afford. So we moved to Hamilton.

Like typical Torontonians, we thought we would be bringing culture to Hamilton. We soon learned differently. The lessons started with our first Art Crawl, when we visited Bryce Kanbara’s You Me Gallery, and heard the Hill Brothers playing bluegrass like nobody’s business at the Blue Angel Gallery. We took Barbara Milne’s Art Bus tour, ending at the Pearl Company. We realized right away that Gary Santucci and Barbara Milne were kindred spirits.

We very quickly became aware of the vibrant cultural life of our new home. We were humbled. Particularly, because there was a quality in the cultural scene in Hamilton that we had not found in Toronto– a generosity of spirit, a sense that we were all working together, not competing with each other.

Gary and Barbara asked us if we would like to help program the Pearl Company, and do some plays there. They both had a lot on their minds at that point, and needed someone to pick up the slack.

We did four plays in the 1908-09 season. We held auditions, and found a company of actors to work with. We called them the “Artword Ensemble”, and they formed the nucleus of the acting company that we have used ever since. We also got to know some of the dancers, musicians and visual artists in Hamilton.

After a year at the Pearl, we decided to find a space of our own. Two art centres were better then one, after all. We continued to think of ourselves as kindred spirits with The Pearl, and we’ve been friends and collaborators ever since.

When we came to Hamilton, our original plan was to build a theatre space similar to the one we created in Toronto. However, we started to think that this was not the right answer. Hamilton has a thriving Community Theatre scene, in their own theatre spaces. There was The Staircase, McMaster, and  Theatre Aquarius with two spaces,.

We found a little sports bar, Three Amigos, just off James Street, and made a classic paradigm shift. How about an Artbar? An art space that could accommodate Hamilton’s musicians? We could make our money from selling beer and wine. They would set the admission price, and get it all.