by Dan Lalande
In case you’re wondering why Altared, the latest destination on Ottawa’s cultural scene, is pronounced “Altered” and not, as its spelling suggests, “Alta-red,” it’s because of its inspiration. During the eclectic spiritual journey she set out on a decade ago, founder and doyenne Janet Nicol fell in love with altars, those raised structures aimed at focusing gatherings and ceremonies. Those occasions have an interesting distinction at Altared, located at 769 Bank St., as they’re mostly of the creative variety. The place might look like a coffee shop, a finely designed one at that, but it’s primarily an artistic hub, with themed occasions devoted to crafting, music, and, on specified nights, the fashioning of—what else?—altars.
As the soft-spoken Janet explains, “You take an object, assign meaning to it, arrange it and honour it.” We all do it, whether we’re conscious of it or not: Desk toys, good luck charms, personal keepsakes—but Altared reframes the practice as a conduit to community, a capacity we’re losing touch with, according to Janet. In an age of computers, iPhones, and AI, it’s nice to know someone is safeguarding the original meaning of the word “connectivity.”
Altared’s events include game nights, open mic stagings and cocktail parties. Janet herself hosts an “open creative night,” an affair inviting artists of all ages and disciplines to work side by side.
Before the inspiration to bring colour and community to Ottawa’s cultural scene came to her, Nicol had been many things in many places. She studied fine arts in Montreal, taught ESL in Barcelona, was an au pair in the UK, worked on a kibbutz in Israel, lived as a happy, harried Manhattanite, raised a family in Bali, fell in with witches in Quebec and took up interior design online.
Altared is not her first business. Janet ran two in Hintonburg: Metta, a popular meditation and movement studio, and Jamari, her initial java shop. COVID, though, thrust her once again into the realm of redefinition.
That plunge was made deeper by the death of both her parents and the looming milestone of 60. Cue life’s third act, a time of consolidation. How to bring all she had studied, everywhere she had been and all she had to give into a single focus? How to give her life an altar?
The answer lay in the neighbourhood where she came of age. A call sounded to reintroduce The Glebe to the artistic, communal and spiritual vibe it had exuded back in the day, only skewed through today’s upscale coffee culture.
Altared is a tastefully boho drop-in space, intended to appease your need du jour, whether that be the urge to explore your art—you can curl up with one of the many notebooks, sketch pads or art prompts for sale—fall into the company of kindred spirits—attendees are encouraged to bond with fellow coffee-sippers—or scratch your spiritual itch—via the myriad books and baubles devoted to meditation and relaxation.
“Unlike most coffee shops,” Nicol explains, “when you walk in here, the first thing you’re asked is, ‘What kind of day are you having?’ not ‘What can I get you?’”
That said, there’s a coffee bar on par with any on the strip. It’s run by one of Nicol’s twin boys, Myles. The other, Austin, has converted the building’s basement into a sleek, state-of-the-art rehearsal space, which he rents out at a reasonable rate to support the local music scene. The surroundings are also conducive to podcasting, for which the necessary recording equipment is readily available.
The top floor houses a session space. There, Janet, a trained life coach and wellness instructor, holds heartfelt one-on-ones with souls who, like herself for the longest time, feel lost, particularly creatively.
If this combination strikes you as the kind of idea that’s challenging to market, particularly in Ottawa, then you’re well aware of Janet’s difficulties. “An emporium of good things,” Altared’s online definition, doesn’t cover all the bases. That creates a dependency on curiosity. “Ottawa is a government town,” Janet affirms. “People are accustomed to rules and regulations. They’re different when they travel, though. When they go abroad, they’ll stop in front of a new place and say, ‘Let’s go in here and check it out…’ Basically, I’m trying to get them to do that in their own city.”
Ottawa needs to be Altared.
