Located on the Minas Basin (a small arm of the Atlantic Ocean) Main & Station Nonesuch is housed in a re-purposed & renovated building, originally a post office, customs house & armoury that was abandoned for 43 years. It now serves as an art residency. We offer workshops, lectures, exhibitions, performances & other events as well as a coffeeshop and [closed indefinitely] secondhand book shop.

We provide space and support for creation in all endeavours which includes all of the arts as well as geology, geography, ecology, anthropology, philosophy etc.

The Minas Basin is world renowned for fossils, gems & minerals, as well as for having some of the highest tides on earth and an ever changing geography.

Originally from Montreal, we are in our 10th year of transforming empty heritage buildings here into art space. The top floor of the former post office is a large apartment for visiting friends, artists, travellers, and volunteers. It has views over the Main St and the water. The second level is a multifunctional space used as a gallery and for performances, workshops, and studio space. The main floor is home to a secondhand bookshop where we host poetry nights, lectures, musical acts, etc. The basement has a kiln, storage space, and lots of potential.

The project began with the ambition to save this derelict building which had been boarded up for so long, ransacked, and left to rot. When we started the roof leaked, there was no plumbing or electric or heat.

The space is now fully functional.

In May 2017 Parrsboro’s former Trinity United Church was in danger of demolition. It is now home to the Nonesuch Centre for the Performing Arts & Studios which offers a large performance hall with excellent acoustics as well as several studio spaces.  The Nonesuch Centre is located 2 blocks away from the main building and is one of the tallest buildings in the area with wonderful views from the two tower studios.

Twenty five minutes drive from the village is a large acreage with fields, forest, beach access, lovely swimming, and place to camp. Fifteen minutes out of the village in the other direction, there is an 8 acre piece of land on a cliff overlooking the water. The property has a passive solar house as well as a couple of 3-season cabins. We host visitors in all of these spaces and have even had people pitching tents in the fields overlooking the water. From the house or cabin it is an easy stroll down to the beach where you can witness the highest tides in the world changing every 6 hours.

The village itself has a population of around 1000 and is home to a summer theatre, a geological museum, and an historical museum. It is also famed for its annual gem and mineral show which has been happening for over 50 years and has been the site of some important fossil finds.

As a guest, you will have the opportunity to meet artists, poets, musicians, writers, and more from both here and elsewhere. We have hosted many visitors from all over Canada and the world: poets, dancers, sculptors, shipbuilders, geologists, papermakers, etc. You will be invited to participate in poetry evenings, art projects and programming. If you are an artist, you will have access to space in which to work on your practice.

We are bilingual in French and English and have some Dutch and German.

Darwin’s Feet                                                                                                                                       jSb