Calgary Arts Development's Creative Calgarians campaign kicked off today with a visit from Canada Council for the Arts Director Robert Sirman and a special performance from local singer-songwriter Kris Demeanor.

In celebration of their 50th anniversary, the Canada Council challenged Canadians to participate in 50 arts activities this year - anything from spending an afternoon colouring with the kids to attending Calgary Opera's world premiere of Frobisher. To help support this great initiative, Calgary Arts Development is launching an awareness-building campaign to get Calgarians thinking about their participation in the arts and to build excitement about the city's growing arts scene.

"We know that Calgarians are engaged in creative activities everyday. Art and artists are everywhere around us. We hope that once people start sharing stories about how art and other creative activities play a role in their lives, we'll start to understand how the arts impact the lives of all Calgarians," said Terry Rock, President & CEO of Calgary Arts Development.

"We already know that Calgary is a creative, dynamic and arts-friendly city," said Canada Council Director Robert Sirman, who participated in the launch of the Creative Calgarians campaign. "But we also know that a creative city is not just about having top-quality arts organizations and talented artists. It's also about the way in which ordinary citizens are engaged in the arts in their day-to-day lives. That's why we're delighted that Calgary Arts Development has seized upon the 50 for 50 Arts Challenge to encourage Calgarians to become more involved in the arts."

Starting Friday, January 26, Calgarians can register at www.calgaryartsdevelopment.com to share stories about how the arts impact their lives, and connect with others who are doing the same through interactive web discussion. During February and March, we'll send out regular updates with some of our favorite stories and give away tickets to Calgary arts events to people who sign up at calgaryartsdevelopment.com to share their story about being a Creative Calgarian. We'll also link to Canada Council's 50 for 50 Arts Challenge (http://www.canadacouncil.ca/aboutus/50/default.htm)to give Calgarians a chance to share their experience with other Canadians.

If you haven't already, please sign up for an account here and start posting to your Creative Calgarian Journal. Once you sign up you'll be able to see who is closest to completing the challenge of recording 50 stories and there is the opportunity to interact with others through the comments system.

Update: Go here for step by step instructions on how to get started posting.