authentic Calgary

The Beginning of Something Extraordinary

Laurel Buss — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:27:39 -0500

Somehow the first month of my work term with Calgary Arts Development has flown by without a blog post. Not a single one. As a public relations student at Mount Royal College, I understand the importance of communicating with the public, so I figured it was time for me to jump on the blog train with reckless abandon. And there's no better time to start than now.

The other evening I had the good fortune of attending the dress rehearsal of Alberta Ballet's Dangerous Liaisons. I was pleasantly surprised. Take everything you thought you knew about the ballet and throw it out the window. Dangerous Liaisons pushes the boundaries by having a play and a ballet going on simultaneously. The choreography was visually stunning as dancers held poses that at times were painfully beautiful to watch. This truly is a must see, even if you don't think you like the ballet. Go. I promise you won't be disappointed. read more »

Nostagia, Media, Geolocality

Mike Scullen — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:38:17 -0500

Memories are powerful. If you look at some current pop cultures trends it's easy to find evidence of the power of nostalgia. The fact that we have an orange Care Bear in the office is a good indicator. 80's revival has been in full swing for some time now and I've got my plaid shirts and doc martins on deck for a 90's grunge revisit. For many of us around the triple decade mark conversations often turn to the music, movies, and television we experienced when we were younger. Those of us who grew up in the 80's were really the first generation to grow up in such a media saturated environment and we can easily relate our media experience with just about anybody the same age in North America. read more »

Fail Safe

Suzanne Boss — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:11:20 -0500

I have been thinking a lot lately about the how the concepts of creativity, risk, and success are interrelated. Does a person or an organization have to be a risk-taker in order to be creative and thus successful? Does being risk-adverse result in creative stagnation and mediocrity at best or blatant failure at worst?

I was reminded the other day about a speech given by Sir Ken Robinson at the 2006 TED Conference, where he said, “if you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything creative”. He goes on to say that “we have become frightened of being wrong and stigmatize mistakes.” So Sir Robinson might argue that taking risks and not letting fear get in the way of bold action will result in higher levels of creativity and an increased probability of success. read more »

Do you think Calgary is fast and fabulous?

Suzanne Boss — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 23:03:48 -0400

Earlier this summer, Fast Company Magazine published a list of cities they deemed to be “Fast”.

What makes a city fast? In their words,

“It starts with opportunity -- a culture that nurtures creative action and game-changing enterprise. It's where the number of patents filed is high, or where the high-tech sector is expanding. These cities invest in physical, cultural, and intellectual infrastructure that will sustain growth. Finally, fast cities are full of highly creative people.” read more »

So what fast and fabulous places around the world made the Fast Company list?

Yarn and Threads

Erica Mattson — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:27:50 -0400

Calgary saw its first skiff of snow last week and it's here again today. I noticed one group of "people" looking especially cold this morning. Earlier this year artist Suzen Green dressed several pieces from the City of Calgary's Public Art collection in bright, colourful knits as part of the ArtCity festival. The long legs of Mario Armengol’s Family of Man sculptures – located on Macleod Trail and 5th Street SE outside of the Calgary Board of Education - were fitted with beautiful, extremely colourful knee-high knitted socks. The project was originally conceived as "guerilla-style graffiti using knitting," but instead Green was able to make a connection with civic officials to get the go-ahead to alter several public sculptures for 10 days during the festival. The "appropriated with permission” aspect of Green's work continues to be one of the things I appreciate most.Green's work has forever altered my view of that space in our city and really awakened a desire for more playfulness in our urban landscape. And now that it's getting cold, it really makes me feel sorry for those poor chilly sculptures!

Culture shock?

Catherine Knops — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:04:16 -0400

Having only been in Calgary for eight and a half months and working at Calgary Arts Development for 2 of those months, I'm still on a steep learning curve about what the city has to offer in the way of arts. This learning curve doesn't only involve discovering the vast amount of performances and events, but also how the arts community in Calgary has developed and is developing. It is in exploring this that I realise just how different my own background and experiences are. Not only do I not come from Calgary originally, I am not even Canadian, hailing as I do, from the UK. Moving away from my familiar cultural references has been more of a shock than I had anticipated and certainly more of a challenge. Suddenly, I can't reference contemporary or historical authors, artists, musicians and organisations. My cultural landscape has disappeared and I'm moving through new and alien territory. read more »

Living South of Red Deer

Karen Ball — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 10:43:26 -0400

I recently returned from attending the Creative Cities Network in Edmonton. Being at the conference meant spending four days in 'Deadmonton' (the sister city to 'Cowtown’) and brought me to consider what the real differences were between Calgary and Edmonton.

Romance is Alive and Well at C-Jazz

Holly Simon — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:31:51 -0400

I didn't know the voice of Terra Hazelton until last night at the C-Jazz show at Ironwood. Wow! She's a fantastic performer who would make Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong proud. She played with the charismatic and quirky Polyjesters. One of the musicians (sorry, I don't know his name!) can make the sound of a trumpet with only his lips among other bizarre talents. Calgary's charming Matt Masters opened up for Terra with a rock-a-billy jazz fusion. (You heard me.) Great show! Ironwood has such a great atmosphere for these kinds of shows. Matt and Terra are playing again tonight at 8pm at Southwood United Church. It's a lot of fun. http://www.calgaryjazz.com for the details.

Be sure to tell Terra, "Welcome Home." She's returning soon to her home town of Calgary after living in T.O. for a number of years. (Notably, playing with Jeff Healey.) read more »

Time is Money for Art

Holly Simon — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 18:40:13 -0400

Last night I participated in Timeraiser. The event combined two of my favourite things; visual art and social responsibility. The concept involves a silent art auction with art purchased from local artists (that’s right, purchased from, not donated by). Instead of bidding money on the art, you bid your future volunteer hours at the charity of your choosing. I earned (or will earn) a great painting entitled "Hawaiian Summer Series 2" (shown left) by Lindsay Love (represented by Swirl Gallery in Art Central). After I volunteer a certain amount of hours next year, I’ll take home my painting! (It’s worth every minute...)

TimeRaiser is an event by the Framework Foundation in Toronto. This event has been held in Toronto for a number of years and has also been in Calgary twice now. The website boasts that Timeraiser has generated 26,464 volunteer hours, engaged 1,100 Canadians, supported the efforts of 120 voluntary agencies, and invested $110,000 in 120 Canadian artists.

The idea is brilliant (and well received in a strong visual arts city with high volunteerism like Calgary), Victoria’s Lounge on 17th Avenue is a superb venue (although not the best lighting for art) and the party was very cool… You should join me in attending or submit your artwork next year... read more »

Somehow... Branding Calgary's Arts Scene

Erica Mattson — Thu, 31 May 2007 20:09:57 -0400

Lots of feedback has come in on the Request for Proposals we put out for a partner to help us with a strategy for "Branding Calgary's Arts Scene." Agencies and firms have been contacting us with questions and ideas, marketers have expressed interest and there's been an interesting mix of enthusiasm, skepticism and even criticism within the arts community. read more »