Earlier this week Boris and I were lucky enough to see Arcade Fire play at the Pacific Coliseum, which is on the grounds of the PNE. We sat in a private box with a great view of the concert, and also enjoyed catered food. It was the closing party for the Container Art show, and all of the artists with their favorite +1 were in attendance. It was an awesome way to conclude the whole experience.

Container Art was a paid gig which included a generous artist fee, a materials fee, an exhibitors ID for unlimited access to the PNE grounds, and four free passes to share with others. There was also a HUGE amount of exposure because the PNE draws a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people. They then project all their content on, let me tell you, more than one rental led screen! The Arcade Fire concert was just icing on the cake.

Is this a typical experience for emerging artists? Not at all. But it demonstrates the potential for businesses to work with artists, promote their work, and compensate them appropriately for it. It’s the kind of situation I would like to see more of because our government certainly isn’t supporting the arts, so why not big and small business?

I am very grateful to Peter Male and Caryn Garder at the PNE, as well as Valerie Artzen, for the opportunity to be a part of Container Art.