Market Collective

By Stephen Hunt

Eleven years ago, Calgary residents Angel Guerra and her friend Angela Dione found themselves at a flea market in West Hillhurst, where hundreds of people drop by every Sunday, to pick over an assortment of old records, hardcover books, vintage clothing, hockey memorabilia, used bicycles, coins, and other collector’s items.

It inspired Guerra and Dione to try a variation on the same theme.

What if they arranged a similar event, only instead of selling memorabilia, it would feature young artists selling new work? With local bands playing live? And DJs spinning records?

“Dione really had a heart for the artists and seeing it be an artists space–so we put all our ideas together for live music, community, local commerce and art,” Guerra says.

“That was kind of the initial conversation we had and from those passions came Market Collective.”

Dion and Guerra each chipped in $100, rented a room in the carpenter’s union hall on 10th Street in Kensington, and Market Collective was born.

The first musician to perform at the first Market Collective was Reuben Bullock, who went on to form Reuben and the Dark.

Back then, the market was an intermittent event—a pop-up—that relied on locating appropriate and affordable temporary spaces at a time when available space was at a premium in boomtown Calgary.

Eventually, the collective moved from that union hall, which is now a condo, across 10th Street to an empty city-owned building. There it built up a following and grew into a seasonal scene, particularly around the holidays, when thousands of people used the work of the Market Collective artists to check off their Christmas gift lists.

The only drawback was that by being a hit, it invariably revived whatever space it occupied to the point where it was forced out by economics.

“It created vitality, then becomes a victim of its success,” Guerra says.

Angel Guerra | Photo: Courtesy of Market Collective

Market Collective 2019

Eleven years later, Market Collective still doesn’t have a permanent home, but it has continued to grow and has become a retail institution that allows hundreds of artists to earn money from their art.

In 2018, Guerra estimated that over the past three years, Calgarians have spent $5 million on artists’ work, and that DJs have earned $75,000 working at various Market Collectives.

“Over the years, it became apparent that not only was Market Collective filling a gap, but we were a forerunner for pop-ups in the city or different art markets, or even just different endeavors in the community that were able to springboard from Market Collective or meet some artists from Market Collective. So I think it filled a gap people were looking for at that time.”

“It still fills a bit of a gap, but it’s different now,” Guerra said, “because there are a lot of things like Market Collective, but at the time, we saw all these artists and musicians leaving Calgary once they graduated high school or university and moved to the next step in their career.

“Things like Market Collective have helped keep artists and musicians in the city and give them a place that they can make a sustainable living.”

A bustling Market Collective in the fall of 2017 | Photo: Courtesy of Market Collective

Over the last weekend of May, the Market Collective took place on a whole other level—it occupied the BMO Centre at Stampede Park.

In addition to the artists selling their work, other artists found work performing, Guerra says.

“It had six DJs, eight bands, and four dance troupes,” she says.

This summer, the market will take over the St. Louis Hotel on weekends, offering pop-up artisanal retail, live bands, and food.

“We’re super-excited for this summer-long activation to be in East Village, alongside other cultural institutions such as the National Music Centre and the new Central Library,” she says.

Other pop-up events are planned for the summer in conjunction with Vans, the Bumble singles app, and Sled Island.

If anything has changed over the past decade, it’s that the retail world—blending music, food and rotating locations—has become more like Market Collective.

Reuben and the Dark are rock stars now, but Bullock still remembers when he was given the opportunity to perform at Market Collective.

“It was amazing to be a part of the Market Collective from the very first days, but it has been really incredible watching it grow over the last decade,” he says. “It has become a cultural hub for Calgary and that is a serious accomplishment. I’m proud of the Market Collective, and everyone who has been involved. It’s pretty special to have played on day one.”

marketcollective.ca