around the World

SIng out at the sing off

Karen Ball — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:07:06 -0400

Thanks to Art Journal, I just read an article in Sunday's London Times about the resurgence of popularity of choirs in the UK. Calgary is a hot bed of choirs, Calgary Arts Development funds 16 choirs which involve over 500 Calgarians. Many of these choirs tour throughout the country and are winning national recognition. Maybe CTV will start a Canadian version of Last Choir Standing.

Deploying artists

Erica Mattson — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:44:03 -0400

Edmonton Journal arts reporter / Alberta novelist Todd Babiak published an article today titled "Don't spin oilsands, deploy artists." In this piece he comments on a $25 million provincial advertising campaign aimed at improving perceptions about oil sands development among U.S. policymakers and poses an alternative: investing in a cultural diplomacy program instead as a way to bolster the province's reputation. Here's a brief excerpt and a link to the full article: read more »

Changing Times

Catherine Knops — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:16:04 -0500

Looking back at the blogs for the past week or so, there seems to be a thread running through all of them and that is creativity.

Creativity and creating creative cities are very much buzz ideas developing in the early years of the 21^st century. With organisations such as Toronto's Artscape addressing how to create the conditions for creativity to thrive within a city and companies such as Pixar and Google addressing creating conditions for creativity within their workforce, there is no escaping the fact that this is an important movement.

Being an historian by trade, this got me thinking about the importance of creative thinking in the past and the revolutions this has created, why they occurred and how that compares to our situation here. Unsurprisingly, there are common themes running through all of them. read more »

Culture House in Buenos Aires

Holly Simon — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:04:18 -0500

Another quick note from South America: I found a culture house in Buenos Aires, care of Lonely Planet and confirmed by a hip, young porteña (local woman) walking her dog. It´s called El Catedral. If you were every lucky enough to go to The Night Gallery in Calgary, then you´d love this place. It’s located in a warehouse just outside of the centre of Buenos Aires. It’s cavernous filled with art and eclectic furniture with gigantic chandeliers with red lights, vegetarian food, and a big dance floor. We drank the local beer, Quilmes, and watched stylish, young couples do a sensuous tango lesson. It was mesmerizing… Check out the photos on this website. I hope the link works! read more »

Chillin´ in Chile

Holly Simon — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:42:48 -0500

Writing on location from Curico, Chile. It´s a small city two hours south of the capital, Santiago. Curico is not unlike the Okanagan, surrounded by vineyards and orchards. (The wine is cheap and delicious… and so is the fruit.) It´s spring here: the sun is shining and I´ve slathered sunscreen all over my fair skin. I´m staying with a visual artist whom I met several years ago when studying art in Spain. She has regular exhibitions and teaches art and yoga by day (not at the same time). I´m here on vacation but our work at Calgary Arts Development never escapes me. There´s nothing like a trip to South America to offer some perspective on development in general… read more »

News from the creative industries

Terry Rock — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:59:43 -0500

Scanning bloglines today, I noticed an item on the 37Signals blog Signal vs. Noise... it appears that Calgary's own VEER was purchased by Corbis. Congrats are due to the folks at VEER for another major Calgary creative industry success story. Some of the heaviest hitters in the world in the creative industries--Corbis and Getty Images--now both have major operations in Calgary. read more »

Breaking it down...

Catherine Knops — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:43:43 -0400

This Monday past, we held our Volunteer Appreciation Party, to recognise the work and contribution of the volunteers who work on our Granting Committee. It was held in Calgary Opera's Arrata Centre, a beautifully restored church in the Beltline district. Part of our entertainment that evening were the performances of two young artists, Whitney-Leigh Sloan and John Conlon, both of whom are participants in Calgary Opera's Emerging Artists Programme. The pair sang a duet and then each performed a solo. 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?

Field Bands and Paradigm Shifts

Suzanne Boss — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:58:25 -0400

In my work, I often think about change – how to manage it, inspire it, and lead it. But changing the systems within which we operate often involves changing minds and shifting paradigms.

Last Friday, the Calgary Arts Development team had the opportunity to have breakfast with Johann Zietsman, Executive Director of the Mesa Arts Center. Johann shared a story with us that I feel illustrates how the arts, and field bands specifically, can be a powerful catalyst in shifting paradigms and transforming lives. read more »

More news from the Big Apple

Terry Rock — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:27:33 -0400

Congratulations to Calgary's Joe Slabe, who is basking in the glow of a successful run of his show Austentatious, recently part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Heck, even the New York Times agrees!