15 arts spaces projects will be recommended to Calgary City Council as strong opportunities for the future of Calgary later this fall as a result of a comprehensive arts spaces strategy being led by Calgary Arts Development in partnership with The City of Calgary.

In 2007, Calgary Arts Development completed research on the current state of cultural space for the arts in Calgary, including the construction of a cultural space inventory and extensive engagement with over 350 citizens and 125 arts organizations, as well as benchmarking across North America and the collection and analysis of international case studies. The conclusion of this research identified Signature Flagship Projects, Arts Incubators, and Community Arts Facilities as top priorities. A comprehensive strategy was developed to meet these key needs, including the Arts Spaces Investment Process (ASIP), an open and transparent process to recommend cultural space projects for municipal investment through the City of Calgary's Culture, Parks & Recreation Infrastructure Investment Plan (CPRIIP).

NOTE: These projects are RECOMMENDATIONS ONLY. Funding for the recommended projects will be determined at a later date by the City of Calgary's through their CPRIIP process.

The recommended arts spaces projects resulting from the Arts Spaces Investment Process will be brought to City Council's November 5, 2008 Standing Policy Committee on Community & Protective Services. They include 15 projects across several space archetypes:

Cultural Cluster Anchor Spaces: Large scale projects that will be Calgary's flagships – landmarks and designations for locals and tourists alike. They incorporate iconic architecture and significant (majority) investment from other orders of government and the private sector. These projects take advantage of unique opportunities within Calgary to position the City on the national and global map.

Cantos Music Foundation: Cantos at the King Eddy
Transforming the impressive existing Cantos operations, its programs, and the collection into the 'National Music Centre and Museum of Canada' at the King Eddy Hotel. An interactive national destination for live music, music education and musical heritage.

EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts: Project 2010
A fundamental re-envisioning of the EPCOR CENTRE resulting in a renewed and expanded facility blended into Olympic Plaza upgraded theatres and concert hall, expanded arts learning and incubator facilities and welcoming public gathering spaces.

Glenbow Museum: Visual Art Pavilion
The creation of a major contemporary Glenbow art gallery for Calgary. Through its impressive collection, one of the largest in Canada, and consistent support of the visual arts the Glenbow will bring the world's greatest art to Calgary in a flagship contemporary arts facility.

Major Community Art Centres: These are medium to large scale projects in suburban regions that will become leading community symbols. They incorporate responsiveness to community needs and preferences, a regeneration mandate (in areas that are economically disadvantaged), and accessibility for a diverse range of organizations and citizens.

Community Theatre Partnership: Calgary Community Theatre Ltd.
The Community Theatre Partnership of StoryBook Theatre, Morpheus Theatre, and Front Row Centre Players Society will create a thriving centre of excellence for community theatre that will serve hundreds of Calgarians using the facility as actors, audience, backstage and volunteers.

International Avenue Arts and Culture Centre
The International Avenue Arts and Culture Centre will be a visible city landmark and a gateway to Calgary's east side, drawing a range of users and audiences to its 1,000 seat theatre, mid size theatre, public gallery, restaurant and multi-use spaces.

Mount Royal College Conservatory: Conservatory Expansion and Relocation
Approaching its 100th anniversary, The Conservatory, which has played a pivotal role in developing the arts in Calgary, reached capacity over 12 years ago. This project will allow The Conservatory to expand its credit free public programming by at least 60%.

Publicly Accessible Arts Spaces Operated by Post Secondary Institutions: Calgary's post secondary institutions are home to an internal community of students, educators and support staff and serve as a destination for an external community of alumni and citizens. These spaces are significant contributors to the vitality of Calgary's arts sector; strong post secondary institutions make strong communities. This recommendation is for the investment in facilities located on post secondary campuses that have proven community accessibility and add significant value to Calgary as community use arts space.

University of Calgary, Faculty of Fine Arts: Rozsa Centre Expansion
An expansion of the Rozsa Centre with specialized amenities for dance that will continue to support
strong public use by providing much needed dance facilities and fulfill the original intentions for the building to be able to become a full service performing arts hub for the city.

University of Calgary, Faculty of Libraries and Cultural Resources,The Nickle Arts Museum: New Museum in the Taylor Family Digital Library
The New Museum will house exhibitions, collections and programs and as the anchor space on the main floor of the major campus community centre, the Taylor Family Digital Library.

Cultural Cluster Incubator Spaces: These are medium to small-scale projects that provide stable, affordable and accessible space for the non-profit arts. They incorporate affordable and accessible pace for a diverse range of activities organizations and citizens that fill a large gap within the current system.

Calgary Folk Music Festival Society: Festival Hall
Creation of a presentation hall and permanent home for the Calgary Folk Music Festival to allow the society to have a secure base of operations for year-round performance, volunteer training and community use.

Cultural District Renaissance Society of Alberta: Tapas Village in the Olympic Plaza Cultural District
Creation of 'Tapas Village', a cluster of small architect-designed prefabricated structures in Paget Park to be rented to artisans and others as a year-round mixed-use 'market village' designed to enhance the street experience on 7th Avenue and in the Olympic Plaza Cultural District.

Decidedly Jazz Danceworks: Decidedly Jazz Dance Centre
Studios and classroom facility for the continued growth of the nationally and internationally recognized Decidedly Jazz Danceworks and the School of Decidedly Jazz built as part of the Kahanoff Foundation's Beltline project. This project will also provide studio space for the local arts community.

Media and Visual Arts Partnership: Media and Visual Arts Centre
A partnership betweenQuickdraw Animation Society, Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers, and EMMEDIA, The New Gallery and Untitled Art Society and Haymarket to renovate and transform the historic 'Bell Block' into a Media and Visual Arts Centre.

Pumphouse Theatre Society
The Pumphouse is aa facility for literally dozens of performing arts organizations. At capacity since 1985, the Pumphouse is poised to renovate and expand their facility to continue to serve and grow their approximately 50,000 annual users.

Stride Art Gallery Association: The New Stride Art Gallery Centre
One of Canada's oldest artist run centre, Stride Gallery, plans to construct a permanent small facility on a marginalized urban site to activate and inject artistic presence into the city.

Small Community Art Centres: These are small scale projects that contribute to building a networks of dedicated arts spaces to support arts activities in suburban regions. They incorporate retrofitting existing underutilized spaces, responsiveness to community needs and preferences, and accessibility to a diverse range of citizens.

Calgary Fringe Festival: Theatre in a Box - “Art Can Happen Anywhere”
Theatre in a Box – the ability to turn any four spaces in Calgary into performance spaces through the provision of professional rigged lighting, sound, staging, seating and backdrops that will be available to rent at non-profit rates along with the services of a professional technician.

Provision of Underutilized City Assets for Community Arts Use
Many of the initial inquiries received through the Arts Space Investment Process were from community based organizations who wanted to tenant a space but did not have the capacity or interest to develop a space on their own. A proactive City-led program of retrofitting and adding on to existing City owned spaces (underused community centres, schools and regional libraries) is necessary to create arts centres in outlying communities and develop an enhanced network of arts spaces within each quadrant of the city to ensure complete communities. 

“These projects all deliver on our vision for a culturally vibrant city and meet the demand for high quality arts infrastructure to support Calgary's growing population and our robust arts sector,” said Terry Rock, President & CEO of Calgary Arts Development. “The arts are vital to our quality of life, to our continued prosperity and to the future of our city. Other cities across North America are investing in arts facilities and now is the time for Calgary to do the same.”

Interested citizens and arts community members are encouraged to attend the public meeting of City Council's  Standing Policy Committee on Community & Protective Services on Wednesday, November 5, 2008. The meeting agenda will be posted online the Friday before the meeting at www.calgary.ca – navigate to “City Hall” and follow the links to “Council Minutes & Agendas.” 

INFORMATION RESOURCES: Full details on projects recommended through the Arts Spaces Investment Process can be found in the publication Extraordinary Spaces for the Arts. Extraordinary Spaces for Everyone, backgrounders and contact information for each arts space project are available, along with two key publications: Reclaiming Calgary's Cultural Identity: Arts Spaces Strategy & Capital Plan and the supporting research report The Current State of Cultural Spaces for the Arts in Calgary.

Click here to access media contact information and the Arts Spaces Media Kit.