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Calgary Arts Development
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  • Grant Investment Programs
        • Grant Investment Programs

          Calgary Arts Development is responsible for establishing grants investment programs for capital projects, organizations’ annual operations, individual artists, and other purposes that strengthen Calgary’s arts sector. Read our Accountability Report.

        • Programs for Arts Organizations

          January 22, 2023

          Operating Grant New Client Intake Program

          The Operating Grant New Client Intake Program is open to applicants who did not receive an operating grant from Calgary...

          October 5, 2022

          Future Focus Granting Program

          This program is intended to support arts organizations as they explore new directions, examine structural change and address life cycle...

          January 17, 2022

          Operating Grant Program

          The Operating Grant Program provides stable, predictable funding to arts organizations in Calgary.

          January 28, 2021

          Project Grant Program – Organizations

          This program is intended to provide one-time project funding to registered non-profit arts organizations and current operating grant clients in...

        • Investment Program FAQ
        • Programs for Individual Artists & Collectives

          January 17, 2022

          Project Grant Program – Individuals and Collectives

          This program is intended to provide one-time project funding to individual artists and artistic collectives in Calgary who pursue a...

          January 4, 2021

          Artist Development Microgrant

          This program is intended to support professional and business development activities for individual artists and artist collectives.

        • Assessor Nomination Form
        • Programs For Indigenous Artists & Organizations

          January 17, 2022

          Original Peoples Investment Program

          The Original Peoples Investment Program supports the preservation and revitalization of First Nation/Métis/Inuit art through arts-based projects and activities.

          January 17, 2022

          Honouring the Children Grant

          With the support of our Indigenous Advisory, Calgary Arts Development has named a $75,000 funding pool the Honouring the Children...

          January 17, 2022

          Indigenous Artist Microgrant

          This program is intended to support First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists living and working in the Treaty 7 region...

        • Program Updates
  • Public Art
        • Public Art Program

        • Public Art Projects

          Concept art of a Chinese dragon with the head of a bison.
          May 26, 2023

          The Bison and The Dragon: Untold Tales

          Comprised of three wall-mounted panels, two at Pho City on 1st St. SE, and one at the Calgary Immigrant Women’s...

          Coming Soon
          May 2, 2023

          North Haven — South Nose Hill Entrance Mural

          This project will contract an Indigenous artist to design a mural referencing the Indigenous history of Nose Hill and install...

          A mural filled with colourful lines create an abstract landscape.
          May 2, 2023

          Renfrew Community Association South Patio Wall Mural

          With a theme of whimsey, joy, beauty and hope, artist Billie Rae Busby created a mural in his signature abstract...

          Spring (Qing Ming) Festival 2022
          May 2, 2023

          Spring (Qing Ming) Festival 2022

          Qing Ming is a time to honour ancestors, celebrate family bonds and herald the arrival of spring. Visitors were treated...

          View All
        • About the Public Art program
        • Become an Assessor
        • Public Art Opportunities
  • What We’re Working On
        • Announcements

          May 23, 2023

          Commitment to Equity Virtual Town Halls

          Calgary Arts Development is hosting a series of town halls to support and nurture diverse art and artist-led city building and to achieve a truly equitable, inclusive and accessible city where everyone belongs.

          May 16, 2023

          You're Invited: Report to Community

          Join us at this free event for a report of our arts activities in 2022, followed by a reception and a chance to meet and mingle with our staff and others from the arts community.

          View All Announcements
        • Publications

          Cover of 2022 Calgary Engagement Survey
          December 20, 2022

          2022 Calgary Engagement Survey

          Despite a global pandemic and rising inflation pressures, the 2022 Calgary Engagement Survey shows Calgarians continue to explore and find ways to connect with the arts.

          View All Publications
        • Fieldnotes

          February 14, 2023

          Coming out on the other side of a pandemic

          Research & Policy Specialist Stephanie Solomon polled our Operating Grant clients in 2022 to shed some light on what challenges the community is facing coming out of the pandemic.

          View all fieldnotes
        • Engagement

          • Congress: Imagining the Future Together
          • CALGARY POET LAUREATE PROGRAM
          • Arts Celebration hosted by the Mayor
          • CULTURAL LEADERS LEGACY ARTS AWARDS
        • Program Updates

          May 25, 2023

          Update: Grant Timeline Changes

          Due to an increase in applications, Calgary Arts Development is adjusting the timeline for both the Project Grant Program – Individuals & Collectives and the Artist Development Microgrant for 2023.

          May 23, 2023

          Update: Operating Grant New Client Intake Program Deadline

          Calgary Arts Development is rescheduling the deadline to apply for the Operating Grant New Client Intake Program. The deadline has now been extended to July 5, 2023.

          View all Program Updates
  • What’s On in Calgary
        • Experience Calgary Live

          YYC What’s On is a simplified, searchable, and free events calendar highlighting Calgary arts and culture events.

        • Free
          Image of movie poster for Sisters Apart
          May 31, 2023 - June 6, 2023

          Free This Week

          As we inch closer to the start of summer, take a look at this week's free arts roundup featuring various film screenings, a few markets, exhibition openings and other events!

        • Upcoming Events

          A promo image for An Evening with Mary Walsh
          Oct. 26, 2023

          An Evening With Mary Walsh

          Image of Odditease Collective logo
          June 10, 2023

          Weird Science!

          A promo image for Fuel by Nat Cann
          June 9, 2023 - July 21, 2023

          Fuel by Nat Cann

        • Submit An Event
  • Living a Creative Life
        • Living a Creative Life

        • What is Living a Creative Life?

          Living a Creative Life is an arts development strategy for Calgary created to align and activate Calgarians in creating a vital, prosperous, and connected city through the arts.
          Take the pledge
          #yyclcl
        • Stories

          A collage of photos showing the faces of four local artists (from left to right): Michelle Thrush, Katie Ohe, Cheryl Foggo, Jean Grand-Maître.
          Creative Connected Calgary

          Create Calgary: Shapers

          From Create Calgary magazine, meet the Shapers — five local artists who have influenced the city's local, national and international reputation and identity.

          A photo of six people standing side by side
          Web Series

          Episode 39

          Celebrate Asian Heritage Month with us as we meet some of the people involved with this year's FascinAsian Film Festival and learn how exploring the world of television and film helps them live creatively.

          An image of Lana Manyfingers
          The Storytelling Project

          Lana Manyfingers

          Meet an artist whose connection to her community and love of sharing her culture and creativity led to an extraordinary opportunity to add her own flair to an Indigenous-inspired room display at IKEA.

        • Browse Stories

          • Arts in Action YYC
          • Creative Connected Calgary
          • Photo of the Month
          • Signatory Spotlight
          • The Storytelling Project
          • Web Series
  • Directory & Spaces
        • Community Directory

        • Calgary Arts Development enables local artists, groups, and businesses by connecting them to information vital to creating art and living creative lives.

        • Cultural
        • Organizations
        • View Full Directory
        • Partners
        • Artists
        • Spaces

        • Calgary Arts Development’s arts space activities include seeking opportunities for arts space creation with community stakeholders and The City of Calgary as well as gathering and sharing knowledge and expertise.

          • Available Art Spaces
          • Classifieds
          • Art Space Resources
        • Submit a Listing

        • Organization Directory Form
        • Artist Directory Form
        • Cultural Directory Form
  • Classified Ads
        • Classified Ads

          Calgary Arts Development’s classified listing is a free service for Calgary’s arts community. All content for the classifieds is user-submitted. Calgary Arts Development makes no endorsement to any agency, organization, corporation or individual who submits listings.

        • FAQ
        • Browse Classifieds

        • Announcements & Events
        • Educational
        • Open Calls
        • Available or Wanted
        • Careers & Hiring
        • Volunteering
        • Submit an Ad
        • Questions? Call us at 403.264.5330 ext 213 or send us an email.

Students from Willow Park Arts Centred Learning School create an art/movement installation
Students from Willow Park Arts Centred Learning School perform in the Calgary Foundation Youth Arts Showcase | Photo: Benjamin Laird Arts & Photo

Engagement

Raising the value of the arts for all Calgarians

ABCD

Living a Creative Life Congress

Fuelling a vital, prosperous and connected city

We believe the arts have the power to build our city.

Through the arts development strategy, Living a Creative Life, our vision is a creative, connected, prosperous Calgary where every resident has the opportunity to live creatively. We foster a sustainable and resilient arts sector and support arts-led city building.

Calgary Arts Development has hosted a variety of gatherings that explore themes like art for social change, community-driven art, reconciliation, and community engagement.

Calgary Arts Development produced the first Arts Champions Congress in 2011 as a meeting place for people who make Calgary’s arts sector a vibrant and exciting place to work and our city a great place to live. A second Arts Champions Congress was held in 2013.

Renamed the Creative Calgary Congress for 2014, the event worked to extend its reach to those who may not traditionally be involved in the arts. A chance to bring like-minded people together to connect around opportunities that place the arts at the centre of building our city, each Congress facilitates the conversations necessary to nurture a collaborative, resilient and innovative arts ecosystem in Calgary.

Calgary Arts Development used 2015 as a planning year for this initiative with a public event geared towards curious, creative, compassionate Calgarians taking place in November 2016. The 2017 event, now called the Living a Creative Life Congress, looked at Calgary’s unique cultural identity, while 2018 focused on art and social change.

The in-person Congress returns in 2022, with a focus on imagining the future together. The event takes place on Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at the Calgary Centre Library. For more information and to register, visit cada.at/3EVwZk3.

Watch this space for information on upcoming congress events.

Learn more
The cover of Living aCreative Life

Produced through a rigorous consultation process, Living a Creative Life is an arts development strategy for Calgary, by Calgarians.

Learn more

Calgary Poet Laureate

An artistic ambassador for Calgary

On July 26, 2011, City Council approved a motion to establish a Calgary Poet Laureate position, funded by a group of Calgary Poet Laureate Ambassadors. Current Ambassadors are the Calgary Foundation and the Calgary Public Library.

Calgary Arts Development administers the program in conjunction with a volunteer selection committee, which appoints each Calgary Poet Laureate for a two-year term. The Calgary Poet Laureate is intended to be an artistic ambassador for Calgary, presenting at civic events, and producing literary work that reflects our city and its citizens. Kris Demeanor served as the first Calgary Poet Laureate from 2012 to 2014 followed by derek beaulieu from 2014 to 2016, Micheline Maylor from 2016 to 2018, Sheri-D Wilson from 2018 to 2020, Natalie Meisner from 2020 to 2022, and Wakefield Brewster from 2022 to 2024.

Learn more
A promo image of Wakefield Brewster

Wakefield Brewster

Email: poet@calgaryartsdevelopment.com
Website:
wakefieldbrewster.com
Twitter: @lyricalpitbull

Celebration for the Arts hosted by the Mayor

Celebrating how artists tell our stories, connect us and make meaning in our lives

The 2022 Celebration for the Arts hosted by Mayor Gondek continues the annual tradition of bringing the business and arts sectors together to celebrate Calgary artists and arts organizations and recognize outstanding achievement. 

This year’s evening event, held in collaboration with Mayor Jyoti Gondek, replaces the Mayor’s Lunch for Arts Champions, a collaboration between Calgary Arts Development and former Mayor Naheed Nenshi. 

The annual gathering celebrates the arts and how artists tell our stories, connect us and make meaning in our lives. It evolved from a longstanding event established by the Calgary Professional Arts Alliance (CPAA) in 1993 to bring Calgary’s business and art sectors together in recognition of the important relationships that foster artistic achievement in Calgary.

These events have enjoyed support from each civic administration since their inception.

Learn more
An invitation for the 2021 Mayor's Lunch for Arts Champions

Cultural Leaders Legacy Arts Awards

A legacy of Calgary’s year as a Cultural Capital of Canada

A legacy of Calgary’s year as a Cultural Capital of Canada, each Cultural Leaders Legacy Arts Award is funded by a contribution from a local philanthropist or organization with matching money from Calgary 2012.

These awards are $5,000 cash prizes that support artists, arts organizations, arts administrators, and volunteers.

Award Categories

  • ATB Financial Healing Through the Arts Award
  • Calgary Catholic Immigration Society New Canadian Artist Award
  • Doug and Lois Mitchell Outstanding Calgary Artist Award
  • Mamdani Arts Leadership Award
  • RBC Emerging Artist Award
  • Rozsa Foundation Emerging Arts Administrator Award
  • SANDSTONE City Builder Award
  • Indigenous Artist Award

Past Award Categories

  • Colin Jackson and Arlene Strom Creative Placemaking Award
  • Enbridge Emerging Artist Award
  • MacLachlan Community Beacon Award
Learn more

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Contact Us

Main: 403.264.5330
Fax: 403.262.9644
Community Investment: 403.476.2031

The Edison | 14th Floor
150 9th Ave. SW
Calgary AB T2P 3H9

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Situated on Treaty 7 territory, home of the Kainai, Piikani, Siksika, Tsuut’ina, Stoney-Nakoda Nations, and Métis Nation, Region 3.
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A creative, connected Calgary through the arts.

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