{"id":18336,"date":"2017-01-29T09:22:42","date_gmt":"2017-01-29T14:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/?p=18336"},"modified":"2018-02-18T22:37:55","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T03:37:55","slug":"gabriel-safdie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/gabriel-safdie\/","title":{"rendered":"Gabriel Safdie: Canadian immigrant still happily giving back"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it possible to grow a business, maintain an active artistic career, and help support your community, all at the same time?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the challenge Gabriel Safdie took on when his dad\u2019s sudden death brought him into the family business in 1986. He agreed to leave a vibrant teaching career having chaired the English department at Dawson College to become president and CEO of what was to become Canada\u2019s largest home textile supplier, Safdie & Company, on the condition that he could continue his work in the arts.<\/p>\n

My approach to business was not at all conventional,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I did it my way. While I was running the company, I published poetry; I helped turn the Playwrights\u2019 Workshop into a national institution; and I did many other things in music, theatre and photography. My photography grew out of my travels and then my yearly calendars grew out of my photography.\u00a0 It\u2019s been 12 calendars now \u2013 several on Asia, one on Stanstead last year and for 2017 I featured photos I recently took on The Day of the Dead on a trip to Mexico, where I have a home. I could not have done the business if I had not had the fulfilment of doing the other [creative] stuff.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Running a successful business also gave Safdie, who was born in Jerusalem and moved to Canada with his family at the age of thirteen, the means to dedicate funds and time to projects he really cared about.<\/p>\n

I give money to theatres, $1000 here and there. It\u2019s not big money. I also make donations. I\u2019ve also been able to help several artists along the way, sometimes to get a recording out, to get a book out. Some is institutional, some is personal.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest of this profile in The Montrealer’s January 2017 issue.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it possible to grow a business, maintain an active artistic career, and help support your community, all at the same time? That\u2019s the challenge Gabriel Safdie took on when his dad\u2019s sudden death brought him into the family business in 1986. He agreed to leave a vibrant teaching career having chaired the English department […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[30,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canada","category-journalism","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2buQs-4LK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19746,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/original-arials-of-western-canada\/","url_meta":{"origin":18336,"position":0},"title":"Original Arial Family of Western Canada","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"July 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"They sat and stood calmly for the formal portrait. No one smiled. An accompanying photocopy with names scrawled on each person identifies the people. Four chairs in the middle hold Remi, Sophie, Joseph Gabriel and Pete. Billy, Augusta, Joe, Sophie, Aldous, Lucy and Eddy stand behind the chairs. Jean-Baptiste sits\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genealogy Ensemble"","block_context":{"text":"Genealogy Ensemble","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/history-worth-remembering\/genealogy-ensemble-history-worth-remembering\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/ArialsWesternsmall.jpg?fit=600%2C436&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/ArialsWesternsmall.jpg?fit=600%2C436&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/ArialsWesternsmall.jpg?fit=600%2C436&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15995,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/louis-riel-ancestors-basement\/","url_meta":{"origin":18336,"position":1},"title":"Did Louis Riel hide in my ancestor’s basement?","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"October 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Family lore says that my ancestor Joseph Arial had many meetings with Louis Riel in the basement of a hotel he owned. 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The company will be a workers\u2019 cooperative known as Mobilitas. There is no such company in Quebec, but in France, this is a product\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hundred Mile Circle"","block_context":{"text":"Hundred Mile Circle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/hundredmilecircle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"In order from, left to right: Marc Duplantie, vice pr\u00e9sident of Co-operateurs, Christophe Gagn\u00e9, Olivier Brodeur, Kevin Lussier, Jol\u00e8ne Durocher, Gabriel D\u00e9ry-Reid, J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Larouche, comedian, Photograph courtesy of Luc Belcourt","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC_3389-001-600x401.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC_3389-001-600x401.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/DSC_3389-001-600x401.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16999,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/favourite-tim-ferriss-podcasts\/","url_meta":{"origin":18336,"position":3},"title":"Favourite Tim Ferriss Podcasts","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"March 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Spent part of my vacation last week catching up on podcasts. 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My great great great grandparents\u2014Joseph Gabriel Arial Robert Content and Judith\/Julie Belleau-dit-LaRose \u2014both grew up in the neighbourhood. 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