The garage is a sacred place for musicians. The phrase “garage band” and the accompanying image of a group of young musicians getting together inside a garage and making noise for the first time is probably what you think of when someone tells you they’re in a band. Some of the biggest bands in the world got their start in a garage. There’s something about a garage that lends itself to inspiration and creativity. So it is not surprising that Bowtown Music, a charming music school and retail store located on the corner of Kensington Road and 14th Street N.W. in Calgary, Alberta, got its start in co-owner Paula Hirson’s garage.
At the time co-owner Kuba Suttles was teaching music at a local business called Music Makers as well as out of his home. Hirson had just moved to the Kensington area and was planning on building a garage when Suttles suggested that they build a recording studio. “A sound room was created, an engineering room, a teaching room, we then built a waiting area and Bowtown Kensington began in September 2009.” In 2011 the pair secured their first commercial location in the community of Bowness before moving to their current location in Kensington in 2012. “Our plan was actually to look for a second location after two years of being in Bowness,” says Suttles, “but we found the space in Kensington sort of by accident and realized we had to act on it.”
Happy accidents have played a large part in Bowtown’s success. “We created a niche, quite by accident, and that niche was ukuleles. Ever since Grace (VanderWaal) from America’s Got Talent won last year … singing her own songs and playing the ukulele, that along with this ukulele craze has helped us to stay afloat financially.” Ukuleles, along with a great location, quality of service (at the time of writing Bowtown Music holds a 5-star rating on Google Reviews) and instruction, have allowed Bowtown to thrive in a struggling Calgary economy.
Hirson, who has a background in dance therapy, and Suttles, who has been a recording and performing artist since high school, both know the healing power of creativity and expression through the arts and use this knowledge as the foundation for Bowtown Music. “One of the organizations we work with is the Legacy Children’s Foundation Gift of Music Program. And from that program a lot of research has been done in terms of music with high-risk youth and the research that has come from that, one of the articles is called Guitars Not Guns, and it has been shown that music will transform someone from a disturbed place to a more peaceful place.”
Hirson would like to see Bowtown Music continue to bring people together and allow their students and instructors more opportunities to interact with the community. “I would like something to happen on a regular basis that would allow our students as well as our instructors who have bands to showcase their talent with some remuneration available to them as well. That’s my vision of something I would like to take to the next step. Along with taking our recording studio and really enhancing its value and service to the community.”
Originally published in Oh the Humanity, issue one, a 24-page magazine made at SAIT in 2017, reported, photographed, and laid out solo.