I Am YEG Arts: Steve Pirot

Grow where you’re planted. Steve Pirot certainly did — and has never stopped. That desire to express his growth and curiosity is something he champions not only for himself but others. iHuman Studios is where he accomplishes both, serving the needs of young and emerging artists, while strengthening a community to which he belongs. But that’s not the only place Pirot’s mark can be found. As an actor, director, and writer, he’s worked with most of Edmonton’s theatre companies… in the city that made him an artist… and the only place he’d ever call home.

Artist, absurdist, and rhyme-loving dreamer — this week’s ​“I Am YEG Arts” story belongs to Steve Pirot.

Tell us about your connection to Edmonton and why you’ve made it your home.

Edmonton is my beat because Edmonton made me. If I had been raised in a different city I would be made differently, but I was born here. And then — after that — I grew up here, and then — after that — I kept on growing up here, and then — after that — my rhythms had become so tuned to this place that any time I’ve been presented with the idea of relocation, I rediscover that I don’t want to make my home anywhere else. So here I am. What I didn’t know when I was 20, but can see clearly now, is that Edmonton in the 80s was disproportionately fertile ground for a young person curious about artistic experiences. That is kind of how being born here made me into an artist. It could have made me into something else, but I don’t think another city would have made me into an artist.

When you were first starting out, what was it about the arts that made you feel like you might belong there?

I don’t think I ever asked ​“where do I belong?” but rather ​“where can I serve?” (Maybe those were the same thing?).

In my early 20s, after a childhood obsessed with athletics, I kind of stumbled into theatre knowing almost nothing about it, and many people wondered what I was doing there. Mostly, ​“there” was the U of A Drama Department, and ​“when” was the late 80s when that department was producing lots of shows but was comparatively light on enrolment. So, there was always something for an undergrad to do, and I took advantage of that. I also took advantage of the non-profit arts organizations that needed volunteers, and I actually received more than I gave. For example: I was meeting professional artists, learning how organizations were structured, how to splice tape, how to coil cable, how to set up a box office, how to patch lights, how to print posters, how to distribute posters, how to get a keg, how to tap a keg, and who to talk to to get the real answers. I was peeking behind the curtain and building the beginning of my network. I didn’t know I was doing that, but that is what I was doing. Somewhere along that path came the sense that I belonged there because people stopped asking what I was doing there.

Tell us about someone who mentored you or helped set you on your path.

Just one? If I had to select one above all others it would be Tom Peacocke (leader, founder, major-general of the U of A’s BFA Acting program), but… that’s not unique only to my personal path. Tom trained a small army of theatre artists over the years, of which I was one of many beneficiaries. He was certainly the most important role model for me when it comes to the part of my path that is dedicated to serving the needs of young and emerging artists.

That said, I think I’d rather nominate one of the people who didn’t encourage me as my ​“someone who set me on my path.” I won’t name them. I won’t even say they were wrong, but having someone doubt my potential was even more motivating than confirming someone’s confidence. My path became more personalized and focused when I had something to prove.

What themes are you drawn to as a storyteller?

To Dream is my favourite theme is to Dream, because first of all, rhyming: and then (b) the things that happen in our Dreams are not limited by the laws of (i) Time, (ii) Space, and (iii) Gravity… or Grammar for that matter, and fifthly because the Wild Rumpus that happens in my Dreams puts my Waking Life shenanigans to shame, and lastly because Dreams are something I don’t need to have to explain to someone because Dreams are a Universal Machine and first of all Dreams are Dreams, and Associative Logic is my favourite kind of logic and have you ever heard of a Tangent before or even a RUN ON SENTENCE full of irrational Nonsense because as an Absurdist I just have to say that have you ever noticed that when we gather people into a theatre to be an audience how often we ask them to sit still and sit quietly in comfy chairs and then we turn out the lights and tell them stories kind of like we’re asking them to fall asleep together for a little while but for a little once upon a time watch a story, a Bedtime Story, together kind of like almost like sort of like a Dream a Collective Dream and like maybe that’s a working definition of what culture is, a Collective Dream, Maybe Culture Is Our Collective Dream? Dreams.

Tell us a little about your role with iHuman Youth Society and what makes it special to you and the city.

iHuman Studios is both an Edmonton-based multi-disciplinary studio system and the artist collective of 12-to-24-year-olds who inhabit those spaces. Our mission is to transform trauma-informed experiences into experiences of purpose, self-worth, identity, and belonging. The primary tool we use to accomplish that goal is the arts.

I’ve been associated indirectly with iHuman since 2001 and have been employed as Artistic Director since 2016. My primary roles are the day-to-day supervision of the studio system and to represent our artists’ interests when they have opportunities to express themselves in the broader community. Working at iHuman fulfills a personal need to believe I’m using my skills in service of something more important than myself. I think iHuman is something Edmontonians should value because it is evidence that as a city we are aware that the playing field is uneven, and that we care to do something about it.

What does community mean to you, and where do you find it?

Community is a… system… or a network… a web… a lattice… a matrix? An ecosystem! Community is an ecosystem of… interlaced and interdependent individual entities that are… that are. They just are. They are interlaced and interdependent and… probably have common interests, but not necessarily common agreement on how to pursue those interests. And I don’t think that’s the type of answer the question was hoping for, but… it’s kind of like asking what oxygen means to me. I don’t know what it means to me, but I know that it’s all around me, andthat I take it for granted, and that if I don’t have it I’ll die. And that if I try to access it and it’s not there… then something has catastrophically gone wrong.

Tell us about a lesson you’ve had to learn more than once.

Nobody can read my mind.

Who’s someone inspiring you right now?

In Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas In Wales, the narrator speaks of ​“the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep,” and that is what inspires me these days. Voices that are too far away from me to understand what they are saying, but clear enough that I can dig how they are saying it. I’m inspired more by the sounds of voices, rather than WHAT the voices have to say. I dig the music of the voices. I am inspired by the distant speaking of voices until those human voices wake me… and also by Kendrick Lamar.

When you think YEG arts, what are the first three things, people, or places that come to mind?

I’d usually say the Edmonton Arts Council as my #1, but given that this is an EAC platform, I’ll shake it up.

I’m putting The Fringe Festival as my #1 because it speaks to Edmonton as a festival city, to Edmonton’s place in the international arts scene, to how we are looked at as a leader in a North American context, to how arts activity can transform the identity of a neighbourhood, and it’s been a place of nascence for so many of the artists, companies, and audiences that inform the rest of the performing arts scene in Edmonton.

My #2 is the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Extension because of the groundwork dating back to the 1920s for a province-wide program of arts-and-culture education, the creation of the CKUA network, The Banff Centre For The Arts, Studio Theatre, all of the fine arts programs at the University of Alberta, and more. Remove that history of activity, and Edmonton doesn’t have the foundation upon which so much has been built in the past century.

And my #3 is The Artery. Yes, its legacy continues with The Aviary, but The Artery is more important in my mind because it got torn down. It is, therefore, part of history now and needs to be remembered as one of those dirty and dark, low-tech spaces that we will always need for an independent scene to thrive. As my #3, it stands for scores of spaces in Edmonton that had their moment: The Haven, The Living Room Play House, the Dance Factory, Studio E, Chess House, The Multi-Purpose Rumpus Room, Spazio Performativo, The Ortona Armoury, Wunderbar, and all those other spaces that I have forgotten about or have never heard of.

Describe your perfect day in Edmonton. How do you spend it?

A typical satisfying day in Edmonton involves: dropping off my skates for sharpening at Totem Outfitters, then buying a sandwich at Farrow, a coffee at Transcend, a book (or five) at Glass, a pint of ice cream at Kind, then back to Totem to pick up my skates for a late-night skate.

Want more YEG Arts Stories? We’ll be sharing them here all year and on social media using the hashtag #IamYegArts. Follow along! Click here to learn more about iHuman Youth Society.

About Steve Pirot

Steve Pirot (a.k.a., Unkl Stiv) is an Edmonton-based artist and administrator who has been the Artistic Director of iHuman Studios since 2016. Prior to that he was the Festival Director of Nextfest for 16 years, an Artistic Producer with Azimuth Theatre, an Artistic Associate of The Edgewise Ensemble, and a cast-member/writer of The 11:02 Show. As an actor, director, and writer he has worked with most of Edmonton’s theatre companies and has also presented work in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and London, UK. He holds both a B.A. Drama and a B.F.A. Acting from the University of Alberta, has been nominated for a Sterling Award on six occasions, and regularly contributes to arts-based juries and forums. He’s written some plays, he’s acted in a few short films, and has a handful of credits for video game voice-overs. He has been participating in spoken-word open mics for over a decade and is currently working on a one-man show based on spoken-word forms, which will be presented at the 2023 Edmonton Fringe.