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 »

Major music happenings have occupied my thoughts lately. Richard Branson strode into town awhile back on a crazy horse-drawn carriage to kick up a big fuss about the Virgin Festival coming to Calgary this June (right around the time of Sled Island and followed by the Calgary Folk Music Festival). Michael Green, Blake Brooker and the rest of the team at One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre announced January's sizzling High Performance Rodeo line-up - there are some fantastic music events including a new arrangement of Tubular Bells, presented in collaboration with Alberta Ballet and Honens.`And of course, the 2008 JUNO Awards are coming to Calgary this April!  read more »

If you look way down to the footer of this website you'll find a little icon with two 'c's in a circle. If you're not paying particular attention you may disregard this to be a typical copyright indication and think nothing more of it. That extra 'c' within the circle makes a whole lot of difference. It's there to encourage our visitors to take the content found on this site, copy it, distribute it, and transmit it in any way they see fit. More than that, we have no problem if our content is remixed, mashed-up, or otherwise reinterpreted into forms that we have not yet fathomed. There is the stipulation that attribution should be given, but other than that, content generated here is open to the public domain. Our Creative Commons license helps demonstrates our organization's value of transparency and community.  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.