Dennis Garnhum
Artistic director, Theatre Calgary
Born: Alliston, Ont.
Moved to Calgary: 2005
Age: 44
Get Dennis Garnhum talking about Calgary and the arts only if you plan to stay a while. His passion is palpable as he offers anecdotes about how outsiders are surprised by Calgary's cultural riches (he hears that sentiment a lot when he freelances elsewhere, directing work such as The Barber of Seville at Vancouver Opera this year) and theories on why the arts thrive in Calgary: It's a boom town, yes, with a growing, moneyed population – but it's also a frontier town that embraces risk, and thus creation.
"To find the oil," he says, "you've got to poke a lot of holes."
Garnhum has plenty to say about Calgary audiences, too. They're appreciative of the presence of good art, he says, but they won't show up for just anything. Forget any Cowtown stereotypes: For the Canadian premiere of Enron – a play which contains 83 instances of the F-word – Theatre Calgary received exactly three complaints during an almost three-week run.
"That production made me feel my belief in Calgary's willingness to play. Because frankly, oil and gas does not come off looking good in that play."
During the last week of the run, you couldn't get a ticket. In fact, the company's subscriptions were at an all-time high last season. Single-ticket sales were up, too.
"The numbers don't lie," Garnhum says. "People are coming, and that tells you there's a commitment to the arts. You can say, 'Oh, we're funded by oil and gas,' but [audiences] show up."
Marsha Lederman