Memorial Parkway Public Art Project

Sans façon is the name of our collaborative art practice. We began working together in Glasgow, Scotland, and moved our families to Calgary/Mohkinsstsis in 2011 to be lead artist for WATERSHED+, a city-wide program we developed with The City of Calgary’s Utilities and Environment Protection Department. At its core the program aimed to demonstrate the potential role of artists actively engaged in our society, and embedded creative processes within Water Services and Water Resources’ core activities and the Calgary watershed. In addition to the creation of permanent and temporary artworks and events, artists and artistic practices participated and led infrastructure design teams and contributed to strategic thinking, to create an emotional connection and change our societal relationship to water and our natural and constructed watershed.  

We have worked internationally on projects ranging from temporary performances and installations in public space, to large-scale permanent artworks, to collaborating with other subject matter experts on major infrastructure projects or developing and implementing city-wide strategies involving artists in discourse with a city. Most of our work tempts interaction with the surroundings and is developed in close collaboration with communities, organizations and individuals, which have included city councils, scholars, performers, composers, architects and engineers. At a municipal and provincial government level we have worked with agencies in U.K., U.S., Germany, Norway and here in Canada.  

In our experience the role of lead artist asks for a certain kind of artistry, one that is about forming and supporting relationships, drawing people together from different backgrounds, experience and knowledge. A lead artist is an instigator but equally a translator, able to look at issues from multiple points of view. Their role is to thoughtfully navigate projects and ideas into smooth and ambitious realization. This takes the ability to listen, adapt and respond to all who have a vested interest in a place and a project, artists, community and design team.  

The creation and construction of new infrastructure has many complexities and necessary parameters. We see it as our responsibility to make ambitious and viable work within these realities. We find coming to a project without preconceived ideas of the work that will be created is the only way to ensure art is genuinely “of the place” and project-specific, leveraging the full potential of having artists engaged. In this way, artwork is created in a collaborative and open dialogue with project teams and communities throughout the process. These relationships and conversations greatly inform and influence a project approach and allows artists’ works to be integrated sensitively and seamlessly.  

In this way a project’s questions or problems become richer and artists can take an instrumental role in igniting the public’s imagination and animating relationships and connections to help shape the community’s relationship to the river, to reflect people’s hopes, desires and histories, and to connect artists and communities in memorable ways.  

We received 45 eligible applications from all over the world. Of those, 34 were from Canada with 19 from Alberta. Applications were reviewed by an assessment committee made up of subject matter experts including local public artists, landscape architects and engineers with experience embedding public art into infrastructure projects, arts facilitators and curators. The assessment committee selected five applicants for interviews and sent them an advance list of specific questions based on discussions of each application. Following the interviews, the assessment committee made a recommendation for the lead artist role. 

Next Steps: Sans façon will be undertaking community engagement over the next several months to develop a project plan and concept design for the project, which may involve other artists. We will update this page as the project progresses. 

March 13, 2025: A Meet the Artist event at the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Centre marks the beginning of the engagement process. The event is open to the public and interested parties and groups from the community will be invited to attend. The event will be followed by additional opportunities for public engagement.

December 2, 2024: Following a rigorous international search and thorough assessment, we announced artist collective Sans façon (Charles Blanc & Tristan Surtees) as the lead artist for the Memorial Parkway Public Art Project.

Memorial Parkway Public Art Project Budget 

The Memorial Parkway Public Art Project is expected to be completed at the end of 2027. Calgary Arts Development manages and funds the public art component of the Memorial Parkway Program Infrastructure project. These projects are separate, but the Calgary Arts Development team will work closely with The City of Calgary’s project team throughout the duration of the public art project.  

This project identifies opportunities for artists to activate spaces within the Memorial Parkway project area. Calgary Arts Development has budgeted up to $850,000 for the design, fabrication and installation of these future artworks.

The City of Calgary is investing in Sunnyside, Hillhurst and the Memorial Parkway to increase flood resiliency and create spaces that enhance the connection with the river, natural environment and our heritage. They are doing this by combining flood mitigation with spaces for commemoration, vibrant and dynamic public spaces, and opportunities for a reimagined Memorial Drive with enhanced mobility options into one program.

Memorial Parkway refers to the entire corridor along Memorial Drive, between Centre Street and 14 Street N.W. This includes the roadway, the adjacent green space and walking and cycling infrastructure, the Memorial Trees and the Sunnyside Flood Barrier. 

The City of Calgary has identified a variety of benefits to Calgarians resulting from this program. The Sunnyside flood barrier is an important piece of infrastructure that will help protect people, homes and businesses in Sunnyside and Hillhurst. The barrier’s location along one of Calgary’s most cherished corridors is an important consideration. This space must be protected and, where possible, enhanced. The new flood barrier will also provide the building blocks for future climate resiliency.

You can learn more about the City’s Memorial Parkway program and the public engagement that took place here.    

Through community engagement, the project team heard requests for a public art component to be included in the infrastructure project. Working through The City’s Interdepartmental Public Art Team (IPAT), the Memorial Parkway infrastructure project team submitted a request to partner with Calgary Arts Development and integrate a lead artist into the project’s Design Team. Calgary Arts Development chose to initiate this public art project because it responds to a community request for public art and because the project team shares the belief that the inclusion of public art improves the built environment and invigorates placemaking in public spaces.  

Although the lead artist will work closely with the design team, the public art project is separate from the infrastructure project and is funded and managed by Calgary Arts Development. 

In the fall of 2023, Calgary Arts Development launched a call for a lead artist or artists to join The City of Calgary’s design team for the Memorial Parkway Program and participate in the process.  

Bringing a lead artist(s) into the design team is intended to facilitate thoughtful integration of public art while anchoring a public art program that stretches along the north bank of the Bow River, between Centre St. and 14 St. NW.