Artists have a new place to connect with the community at Studio 27 in Kitchener’s Civic Area district. The studio, located in a renovated heritage house at 27 Roy St., opened on Oct. 5, 2024. It features a gallery and workshop space and is home to Holly’s Neighbourhood Cafe.
Studio 27 is the first commercial project for RFB Development, a Kitchener-based property development company focusing on restoring heritage homes. Brent Murphy, the community and creative lead at RFB Development and the manager of Studio 27, says he joined RFB to help bring Studio 27 to life.
“RBF hired me to do something here that would have a community impact and be a flagship model for what we hope to see in other heritage home developments, be it from us or from someone else,” Murphy says.
Studio 27’s mission is to create more opportunities for artists to showcase their art. Instead of charging artists fees for gallery or workshop space, Studio 27 uses a commission-based payment system.
Artist’s hosting workshops pay a 20 per cent commission, and artists displaying in the gallery pay a commission on pieces sold.
Murphy says he wants Studio 27 to be as financially accessible as possible.
“We want artists to come with their ideas, and we’ll try to make it happen. We have a good little library of tools to use, too. We want to alleviate that initial barrier to hosting a workshop and have a space that is pretty and intimate,” he says.
Studio 27 has hosted a collage workshop with artist Nicole Beno and an introduction to leather craft workshop with Adam Zrebiec from Barber & Craft.
Before its opening, Murphy contacted some artists to pitch workshop ideas. Since then, he has received pitches from artists he knows and ones he has never met.
“We want to make sure it is going to match the vibe and that we can do as much as possible to make sure it sells. We have people who have fully sold-out workshops that I’ve never met. They just slid into our emails and said, ‘I have this great idea,’ and people came and scooped up their tickets right away,” Murphy says.
Beno hosted a collage workshop on Nov. 22, 2024. She said she did not realize how much she would have hosting a workshop.
“Seeing everyone’s scraps on the table afterwards was magic. It felt like everyone needed that night. I’m not sure if it was a long work week, or what it was, but it felt like a relief to just sit down, elbow to elbow with your friend or new acquaintance in the ambience of the cafe, and let yourself play a bit,” Beno said.
The gallery space rotates artists on a quarterly basis. Murphy says that timeframe gives artists a chance to sell their work while keeping the gallery fresh for frequent cafe visitors.
Murphy leads the curatorial process and works to find artists who complement each other during their time on the walls. He says one challenge is educating people on the costs of purchasing art.
“The people that we’ve picked are working artists. So, when you come in and see the prices, yes, it includes that we have a commission on it, but that is just the price to be paid for an original work by working artists,” Murphy says.
In addition to connecting with artists, Murphy says neighbours are already recognizing the impact of Studio 27 on the area. Roy St. is part of the City of Kitchener’s Encouraging and Directing Growth for Efficiency (EDGE) strategy. EDGE provides incentives to developers to promote the re-urbanization of properties, which can create more cultural opportunities in urban neighbourhoods.
“They’re all excited to see people come up the street more often. We’ve had a comment in our little neighbourhood Slack group that break-ins have been down generally because there are so many people around on Roy St. now,” Murphy says.
Visit studio27dtk.ca to learn more about upcoming workshops and gallery exhibitions.
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