1. Nils Vik / Quinn Greene (tie) 

2. Danika Bonk and Drex Serdletz of Tiny Feast 

3. Graham Bargen of Thom Bargen / Mandel Hitzer of Deer + Almond / Justin Ludwar of Beet Happening (tie) 

 

When the place you want to work doesn’t really exist yet, sometimes you need to create it for yourself. 

For coffee lover Nils Vik, this meant opening a shop of his own. Since 2011, Parlour Coffee has been brewing up a select menu of specialty drinks, providing coffee aficionados everywhere with a hub for their java related needs. 

“It was a hobby that kind of escalated,” Vik says. “I visited Montréal a couple years back and was sort of blown away not only by the quality of coffee in a few cafes I went to, but also by the experience of that atmosphere.” 

Though a visit to Parlour guarantees you’ll receive a masterfully crafted cup of joe, one thing you won’t find in the 400 square-foot space is WiFi. For Vik, this means contributing to a sense of community. 

“(Parlour is) really a space that’s activated by its patrons,” he says, noting that his favourite moments at work are the ones in which friends and strangers connect. “Coming to work means every day I get to spend time with some really great people.” 

Local actor Quinn Greene’s recent production of Evil Dead the Musical brought out the strength in community as well, just in a different way. 

“I really fell in love with it,” Greene says. “The audience is just rabid fans of both the movie and the musical, so they came out to the play and just loved being coated in blood. It was intense!” 

Greene is one third of Wasteland Productions, a company with a mandate to create exciting counterculture projects and bring a wide range of shows to Winnipeggers. The company has been busy with its rendition of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, as well as creating original shows with Greene’s comedy sketch troupe, H.U.N.K.S. 

“So far it’s been a really great year with them,” Greene says of the group, adding that one of his favourite aspects of working in Winnipeg is the great collaborations he’s been a part of. 

“If you look at the talent of our local comedy scene and you look at the talent behind a lot of our musical and theatre productions, you can see there’s just a huge amount of passion in the city for great and interesting art.”

Published in Volume 70, Number 13 of The Uniter (December 3, 2015)