June 29, 2009

Hi. My name is Bil Hetherington and I am Program Coordinator for Arts Spaces at Calgary Arts Development. I am here to help facilitate and support the development and expansion of art spaces in Calgary.

I have been charged with the task of art space blogging. The purpose of this blog will be to create awareness of art space developments happening at home, and abroad. This is my very first blog.

You can also watch http://twitter.com/bhetherington
Here goes ...

The Waffle Shop:

This art space is an unusual late-night waffle emporium in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood that celebrates the lives and stories of its customers through the production of a weekly talk show on the premises. It also interacts with cyber-patrons. Unfortunately for the latter, the waffles can only be enjoyed on site.  read more »

I've been following the ThinkAlberta blog, a feature of Alberta Venture Magazine, for quite a while in my trusty Google Reader.  Not long ago, there was a post that ticked me off a bit... so I let them know in the comments.  Within a short time, their Web Editor, Rachel Singh, contacted me and essentially said... it's pretty easy to criticize in the comments of a blog, lets hear what you really have to say about this stuff!  Lo and behold, this month's print issue has an interview we completed over phone and e-mail, called "The Purpose-Driven City."  read more »

Last night I had the honour of toasting (and, OK, roasting!) Colin Jackson's accomplishments as CEO of the EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts.  Colin's stint at the helm of one of the most important arts institutions in Calgary (and Canada) lasted 12 years.  I've known him for about half of that time, and have worked closely with him for the past 4 years.  As I was reflecting on what I would say, it occurred to me that, at 40, I was likely to be one of the “young” people in the room.  And at 62-ish, Colin is technically old enough to be my father... we are essentially one generation apart.  I point this out not to make him feel older (really though… the rocking chair can’t be too far away!), but rather as a jumping off point for thinking about the responsibilities of my generation as an older generation begins to hand over the torch.  read more »

Consider today's news from Alberta Ballet (here), recent news from Theatre Calgary (here), the ongoing work of Calgary Opera, Theatre Junction GRAND, ATP, OYR, DJD, Lunchbox... and then add to that impressive list the large number of emerging organizations in our fine city.  If it wasn't clear already, the picture is becoming sharper:

Perhaps more than any other city in Canada, Calgary is distinguishing itself as "the" place in Canada for new creation, more often than not with exciting collaborations at the heart of the work.  read more »

The picture above was taken on our last Operating Grant deadline in 2007.  Here's what things look like in the aftermath of our 2009 Operating Grant deadline in our new paperless Operating Grant program:

(You can almost hear Mother Nature breathing a sigh of relief).  Thank you to everyone who submitted this year.  We know that there were quite a few bugs, glitches and painful forms along the way- many of which we are already working on improving for next year.  If you have any questions about our assessment process and timelines then, as always, don't hesitate to contact us.

For anyone that is moved by art, history and a belief in change.  The incredible contribution of some of the world's best artists were front and centre at today's inauguration of Barack Obama, showing the power of art in our lives and the role that it plays in our combined histories.   Here is the performance of Air and Simple Gifts by John Williams, performed by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Anthony McGill and Gabriela Montero.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Imagine my surprise watching Canada's World Junior triumph earlier this evening... only to see something that started as "I (Heart) Calgary Arts" turn into "I (Heart) Alberta Arts" staring at me from the rink board advertising at one of the most-watched sporting events this year in Canada!

Minister Blackett... I applaud your surprise marketing tactics... for SURE that ad was noticed. But... we'll have to talk about some royalties for Calgary (ahem, from 2007, I present the brainchild of our own Erica Mattson, with design from Janine Vangool):

At least we're all cheering for the right team!

Slate has a very interesting pictorial essay of creative uses of surplus big box stores (from Julia Christensen's book Big Box Reuse) . We often think of "adaptive reuse" as a means of employing heritage buildings.  I suspect the "heritage" of the 80's, 90's and early 2000's is going to include a huge inventory of big boxes.  Imagine what we could do with them...

What is Calgary Arts Development doing now? You can find out now on Twitter. The team here has started dishing out tasty tidbits of information via this micro-blogging platform.  If you are not familiar with the service, here's an introduction:

Twitter in Plain English Video

Our Twitter is grabbing all of the content appearing on CalgaryArtsDevelopment.com so you can follow us there to stay informed.  New classified advertisements posted on our website will go out through Twitter as well so you too can tweet to the Calgary Arts Development followers.

@CalgaryArtsDev