We are in the midst of the Arts Space Assessment Process, the Calgary Arts Development led process to identify strong community led arts space proejcts to reccomend for municipal funding or land. Much like developing space, our process sometimes inches forward and sometimes takes a giant leap. Lately we have been leaping along. The Arts Space Assessment Process has brought forward amazing projects that, when completed, will change the city's sky line and bring creative life into many Calgary nieghborhoods.  read more »

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 »

Calgary Arts Development's recent research on arts spaces showed a strong and increasing demand for rehearsal spaces for the performing arts.

Since the release of that research, there has been increased public awareness of the "arts space crunch." As a result, Calgary Arts Development receives inquiries and offers of potential spaces that may be appropriate as short and long term solutions for the arts. We have been made aware of a potential rehearsal space in a prime downtown location. You can help us by answering a couple of questions and we’d be happy to keep you in the loop about the space, if it develops.

This survey is designed to give us a snapshot of the current state of demand for rehearsal spaces only. We intend to conduct these kinds of surveys on a number of important issues on a regular basis. Your participation will help us provide good advice to those that wish to get involved.

By the way, your best estimates will suffice, please don't take more than 5 minutes to do this survey!

The survey can be found here.

Please complete by Monday, September 10, 2007 so we can compile the results.
Thank you!  read more »

I usually make a yearly trip to my childhood home of Summerside, PEI, taking in as much arts and culture as I can manage between beach trips and card games. This trip, ending last week, reminded me again of what a small art town Canada is...  read more »

CalgaryVenues.com went on line yesterday! This is a brand new resource for connecting artists and producers to venues. We're asking venue operators to add or edit their venues on the site. It's completely FREE. Just head to http://www.calgaryvenues.com and create an account. It's easy.

As a brand new tool, there are bugs to work out as we go. Thanks for getting involved, testing the site and providing feedback. If you own/run a venue, get your info in there! Many thanks to the hard working guys at Evolvs for crunching through the code and design. It looks great, I must say!  read more »

We'll be featuring venues who send us stories about their space to feature@calgaryvenues.com. Questions? Email: info@calgaryvenues.com.

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 »

Did you know there is a house behind the Connaught Safeway, that was home to the designer of the Canadian Flag? Or that The Partridge Family was modeled after the Cowsill's family band who lived in a house in Lower Mount Royal?

Today I had the pleasure meeting two volunteers from the Calgary Heritage Initiative (not to be confused with the Calgary Heritage Authority or the Heritage Planners with The City of Calgary who are all doing the important work of preserving Calgary’s Heritage sites). To quote CHI’s website, “The Calgary Heritage Initiative Society is dedicated to the preservation, productive use and interpretation of buildings and sites of historic and architectural interest in Calgary.” History buffs and architecture fans may want to check out what they are doing. They also conduct research and provide forums regarding sites with heritage designation or heritage potential.  read more »

Their website references a number of interesting sites such as the beautiful King Edward School in my neighborhood. There's an article in today's Calgary Herald today reporting the school has just been put up for sale. It would make an amazing cultural space, wouldn't it?

Just wanted to point out the Calgary Urban Initiative. One of their members and a student in between degrees in The Faculty of Fine Arts and The Faculty of Environmental Design at The University of Calgary, attended a recent discussion on Cultural Space for the Arts as part of Calgary Arts Development's Dialogue Series. I gather that the group is mostly driven by students and "up and comers" interested in sustainable urban planning, design, and architecture in Calgary. They are working on an "Urban Toolkit" and have listed commercial and residential development projects underway in Calgary on their site, www.calgaryurban.com.  read more »

Along with thousands (literally) of ideas spinning off from the Dialogue Series (summaries of all 9 events to date are on our site), The Calgary Urban Initiative is a good example of momentum in the Calgary community to be active and informed about this city's cultural and urban development.

Check out this new major sculpture park project in downtown Seattle. The Seattle Art Museum purchased a 9-acre waterfront brownfield site 8 years ago when it was in the final stages of environmental cleanup and the neighborhood still pretty rough. The park has a unique architectural design (Weiss/Manfredi Architects) that surrounds and overpasses a major roadway and railroad track, exhibits almost 30 critically acclaimed sculptors (I'm a Richard Serra fan), and offers free entrance for all.  read more »

Arbour Lake Sghool is a collective of artists that not only explore themes of suburbia in their work, but use, engage, and challenge the suburban landscape directly:

Re-enactments of World War One with water balloons and trenches, the construction of giant cardboard volcanoes in backyards and public robot fights dissolve the hegemony of the “new community” aesthetic into a provocative and ambiguous social milieu... The Sghool’s mandate is to provide a stage for the creation and display of artistic or critical projects in a way which explores and engages our suburban setting.

In one project that altered the suburban landscape the group constructed a two story cardboard structure in their backyard:  read more »