Friday, March 29, 2024

Near and Now: Dry

Shortly before the pandemic shut-down, I experienced a terrible gout attack. I won’t bore you with the medical details of the diagnosis except to say that all of the literature I voraciously read on my excruciating condition said that beer was a culprit in making things worse. So, on a frosty February evening in 2020 with a gathering of playwrights at the Pheasant Plucker, I sadly sipped my last pint of beer.

It reminded me then, as it does now, how closely linked the social act of drinking is to artists and the rituals around making and seeing art. That’s not to say that the drinking is always alcohol-based. It’s not, of course. I know of quite a few working artists who’ve either given up drinking due to their being in recovery or simply out of a desire to lead a healthier lifestyle. 

Which brings me to last month’s recommendations by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. To put it mildly, the new guidelines around the safe consumption of alcohol are stark. Deciding to bring the existing Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines from 2011 in line with the latest evidence on alcohol consumption health and safety risks, their recommendations found that consuming more than two drinks per week was a moderate health risk. Going even further, the guidelines pretty much spell out that no amount of drinking is healthy due to a direct link between alcohol and cancer.

Alcohol as a moderate health risk is really nothing new. Damage to the liver and the dangers of drinking and driving are well confirmed. But conclusively linking any amount of alcohol to developing cancer is new and, well, sobering. And it’s something that could eventually have a profound impact on post-show bar culture for artists as we know it.

With (hopefully) the worst of the pandemic in the rearview mirror, it’s fair to say that many of us have become much more aware of the environment and how it can impact our health. Even before COVID, smoking was gradually sidelined as the toxic nature of cigarettes became widely accepted and people either quit cold turkey or took up vaping.

But can the same really be said of drinking?

It’s a complicated answer because of the complicated relationship between the arts sector and the alcohol industry. Working as an arts administrator, I can easily name a handful of events that would have been more difficult to fund had it not been for the sponsorship of a local craft beer maker or a well known alcohol brand. And how many tents and stages at popular summer arts festivals are named for said brewers or brands? In many cases, the term ‘beer tent’ is synonymous with the place where artists go to hang out after the show. And I haven’t even gotten to the countless opening night galas filled with red and white by local wineries eager for exposure as patrons of the arts.

So, what happens when it becomes accepted that all these flowing drinks will eventually cause cancer for those having just one more glass?

Because, honestly, that’s what many were saying about cigarettes in the 80s.

I’m not trying to point fingers. In the decades prior to that chilly February evening, there was nothing I enjoyed more than heading to the bar after a show–either one I’d helped create or one featuring friends and colleagues–to talk shop or shoot the breeze. How many times would myself and my friends close out the Toronto patios of places like Betty’s, Pauper’s, and the Victory Cafe. After I moved to Hamilton, there was the Winking Judge, Jack & Lois and the aforementioned Plucker. But more than the places, the number of friendships and professional connections made at these socials is substantial. Would they have happened if not for the pint in front of us?

It’s hard to say.

What’s clear is there’s been fervent pushback to these findings ranging from outright dismissal to cherry picking counter arguments that alcohol consumption is actually healthy. The fact that these recommendations—and that’s all they are at this point—have received such resistance is, perhaps, telling. The idea that alcohol consumption could go the way of cigarette smoking is a pretty big sea change. Now, to be fair, non-alcoholic drinking and so-called ‘near beer’ brewing are gaining popularity. But, ultimately, is such a change something the arts sector, with our gala openings and post-show pints, ready to embrace?

We may not have much choice. If or when it’s accepted that even a single drink might take years off your life, how many artists will instead reach for a tonic water and decline the sponsorship of a local brewery?

It’s worth a conversation, I think. 

Stephen Near
Stephen Nearhttp://www.stephennear.com/
Stephen Near is a freelance writer and educator living in Hamilton. He is a graduate of York University (BFA), the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (B. Ed) and the MFA Creative Writing program at the University of Guelph. He works at Mohawk and Humber College and is a member of the Playwright’s Guild of Canada and an alumnus of both the Sage Hill Writing Experience and the Banff Centre. Stephen's plays have been produced at the Hamilton Fringe Festival and Theatre Aquarius and he is completing his first fiction novel.

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