It is well documented that Artspace was located here in the Belleghem Building from 1977 to 1983. Artspace moved from its first location at 440 Water Street and into the 2-story unit at the back of this building after doing renovations to create a larger gallery that would accommodate more multidisciplinary works including performance.

The space on the ground floor was eventually renovated into a theatre and performance space known as City Stage.

When my path first led me to this building, it was to see a performance, yet Artspace had already moved into its third and largest location to date, the old Market Hall at 336 George Street. I first came here to see solo musicians perform when it was the Aloha Cafe, conveniently located across the street from 2 other great music venues, the famous Red Dog Tavern and The Underdog.

In my experience, Hunter Street has always been a well-worn path to live music and theatre. Throughout most of the 1990s, the old City Stage space was home to The Union Theatre with its collective of artists and enthusiastic audiences. I attended quite a few shows here, and found that The Union was also a great place to meet and socialize with creative people. Some of those people are my friends to this day! One of those people is Martha Cockshutt. We met here at The Union during the Theatre Trent production of The Yellow Wallpaper. Martha was designing the costumes and set, while I had the minor role backstage working at the lighting board.