On a warm July night in 2010, in the back room of Clinton’s Tavern in downtown Toronto, a tall bearded man took the stage amid murmurs floating across the room. “Hey, I think I’ve heard of this guy,” said one audience member, while another whispered, “Someone told me about this poet. I can’t wait to hear him!” A moment later, Shane Koyczan, a spoken-word poet from Penticton, B.C., began reading and the room fell silent.

“This wasn’t just great poetry, this was great social commentary and great entertainment all at once,” says Cynthia Gould, interim director of the Art Bar Poetry Series, which hosted the event. Gould’s recollection of this moment is bittersweet now that the Art Bar has announced that on June 28 it will wind down its impressive 25-year run as Canada’s longest-running weekly poetry reading series.

Author Priscila Uppal, who read at the Art Bar 10 times over the years, credits the series with encouraging emerging poets to work up the nerve to appear on stage. She recalls performing at an open mic (featured at the end of each evening’s programming) in 1998, and receiving kudos from literary stalwarts Rosemary Sullivan and Karen Mulhallen. “Art Bar always had the nice mix of emerging and established poets,” she says.

The series was founded in 1991 by Allen Sutterfield. It was originally hosted at the Gladstone Hotel, and has had many homes over the past quarter century. More than 3,000 authors have performed readings on its stage, including George Elliott Clarke, Lynn Crosbie, Molly Peacock, and Christian Bök.

“The nice thing about the Art Bar is how it was open to literary writers and spoken-word poets, and it found the intersection of those two disparate cultures,” says Robert Priest.

But audience numbers have become inconsistent, with high-profile authors often reading to near-empty rooms, while relative newcomers face full houses. Its most recent venue change, to the Black Swan Tavern in the city’s east end, also contributed to a dip in attendance.

The imminent departure of several Art Bar volunteer board members provided an opportunity for the volunteer-run organization to take stock of its future. Although the board concluded it was time to say goodbye, Gould stresses the Art Bar isn’t dying. “It’s retiring,” she says.

 

Stephen Humphrey, a former Art Bar director, says the decision stemmed in part from the growth of Toronto’s live poetry scene. “The Art Bar isn’t as necessary as it used to be,” he says. As recently as 10 years ago, the Art Bar was a lifeline and central community for poets and their publishers, but now, says Humphrey, almost every day of every week features a reading series in the downtown area.

Newer series such as Pivot Readings or the Rowers Pub Reading Series are now attracting their own fair share of high-calibre poets. The rise in popularity of spoken word across Canada has also resulted in more stages for poets such as Koyczan and Priest who straddle both literary and performance.

Some publishers, such as Noelle Allan at Wolsak & Wynn, rely on established series like Art Bar to promote new titles and touring authors. But other publishers, such as Exile Editions, have taken a more ambitious route and run their own events. The Exile Writers Series averages around 40 to 60 books sold per event, according to publisher Michael Callaghan. He says his series moves to venues around the city in order to tailor the readings to specific audiences. “When series come and go, it’s just like with publishers,” Callaghan says. “There are those who have the ability to last it out, and others that start up and then disappear. But is the publishing world any better or worse with the deaths of these series? It’s hard to say.”

It’s unclear at this point whether poetry will live on at the Black Swan after the Art Bar’s final show, or if another series will take its place elsewhere. Heather Wood, artistic director of the Rowers Pub Reading Series, says finding appropriate venues can be challenging. “Bars are cash-starved and poetry readings don’t bring in a lot of money,” she says. “It’s not easy to find a steady home.”

George Elliott Clarke, Toronto’s former poet laureate and the current parliamentary poet laureate, says the Art Bar’s annual Dead Poets Society evening was one of his favourite recurring events. Each year, selected poets read the work of a deceased Canadian or international poet. “That is an important night because it reminds everyone that our art form was not born yesterday,” says Clarke. “It was always a humbling night for me.”

“I think people will look on the series fondly. Many poets, including me, got their start reading in the open stages,” says David Clink, the series’ organizer from 2002 to 2005. “It is sad to see a series end that has given so much opportunity for poets to try their craft, whether they be a first timer or a seasoned veteran, a stage poet or a page poet, a young poet or an old poet.”