RobertsStreetSocialCentre

2008-03-16

Roberts Street Social Centre

History

The Roberts Street Social Centre evolved into RadStorm. See that page for a current description.

The Roberts Street Social Centre was made up of:

• the AnchorArchive Zine Library
• the Ink Storm Screenprinting Collective studio
• the Crow's Nest space (for events, workshops, and meetings)
• an artist and zinemaking residency program
• a kitchen
• a yard with firepit and garden

The building was rented from Ken Porter; who had his business, K-PC Ltée, around the corner. Here's a very short 2010 interview with him by JyelleVogel? about the history of the building, the philosophy and business of art,

DanielMacKay

My first encounter with Roberts Street was using the street as a shortcut to get from Agricola to Gottingen and seeing an event out in the yard: there were free cookies, art and crafts and plants for sale, someone was playing a flute, someone was giving free haircuts. It looked exactly like someone had taken a complete, small hippie festival from July, 1969, frozen it in time, and just thawed it out for that day. It was beautiful, and the people were smart and funny and fun. Inside I found a library - thousands of zines. And a kitchen, and over time I learned that almost all events there involved free food. And, it was a very queer space.

Much later learned that the landlord was my old friend Ken Porter.

One of the most memorable programs was Dinner And A Movie; I have a note that I went to one on January 10, 2010. People took turns making food for 12 (which is what the Crow's Nest would hold when set up as a cinema) and "curating" a movie - telling you why you thought it was important, why you wanted to share.

• February 10, 2010: My partner Gabe and I curated The Boys In The Band (1970) and served everything that was in the movie: a blender cocktail called a "Blue Whale", salad, lasagne, and cake (but not the cracked crab.)1
• I attended The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) and we all had coffee mugs of gin, and took a drink of gin every time David Bowie's character drank, which was a lot. The host had gallon bottles of gin and refilled our mugs periodically; we were a mess at the end.

The website was: www.robertsstreet.org

This was one of many CommunityCentres in Halifax.