We had the privilege of spending time with Shelton Stanfill this morning discussing cultural tourism, thanks to the EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts. Shelton, a well-known arts leader from the U.S., had some great insights on how Calgary can start moving forward in this area based on his experiences building and shaping Atlanta's cultural tourism strategy. We were joined by Johann Zeitsmann who currently runs the Mesa Arts Center in Arizona and was able to offer some very interesting perspective based on his current work as well as his past experience developing the arts in South Africa. Also around the table were Tourism Calgary, Travel Alberta, The City of Calgary, the Calgary Telus Convention Centre, some of the Epcor Centre's resident companies and a couple of hotels - all engaged in great discussion on this important topic.

One of the strongest pieces of advice Shelton had for the group was to develop our understanding of Calgary's cultural inventory. What are our existing assets? What key arts attractions can we lead with? What are the things that make us unique? How can we build on these strengths?

Attached below is a very brief overview of top of mind cultural ammenities. Without a doubt Calgary has some tremendous assets - it seems like the next step is to work collaboratively with the arts community and in partnership with the tourism industry and the city at large to ensure these are documented, widely known and celebrated.