Calgary's Arts and Culture Sector is Booming - So Why Aren't We Celebrating It More?

For decades, Calgary has been known for its contributions to Canada’s energy sector. The late 1990s ushered in the heyday of the oil and gas boom, an economic turning point that has shaped the city’s identity. But it wasn’t always that way; Calgary’s art scene was vibrant in the early 90s with alternative music clubs, including The Republik, The Night Gallery, and The Westward Club. Artists filled the city, occupying the second floors of several Stephen Avenue historic buildings. With the oil and gas boom came a departure from the city’s history and culture in favour of economic progress. Today, we’re seeing a return to our roots.

Calgary: 3rd Most Liveable City

Rated the third most liveable city in the world by the 2022 EIU Global Liveability Index, Calgary beat Vancouver and Toronto as one of the most desirable cities to live, work, and play, outranking other major cities within Canada, including Vancouver and Toronto. However, Calgary did fall short in culture and environment, despite its rich and ever-growing arts scene. Knowing the importance of industry diversification in retaining talent, I sit here writing this wondering why we’re not promoting Calgary’s arts community as much as we do oil and gas.

The building blocks of Calgary as a creative hub are here, and we’re well on the path to becoming a leading destination for arts and culture in Canada. The biggest gap remains the lack of awareness surrounding Calgary’s booming arts and culture sector.

Calgary is home to several leading post-secondary schools nurturing talented, creative thinkers. The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, referred to as a ‘tech school’ in the past, has the best Culinary Arts programs in Canada. Alberta University of the Arts is one the most affordable art schools in the country and is the alma mater to many prominent artists whose work is recognized on a global scale, including Geoff McFetridge, Jillian Tamaki, and Lincoln Agnew. The University of Calgary, Mount Royal University and Bow Valley College are all hubs fostering young and fresh talent.

As well as fantastic educational opportunities, Calgary houses many pieces and places of art, character and opportunity, places that house the soul of our city. The city recently contributed to an investment of over $450 million into the expansion of Arts Commons, a hub for performing and visual arts in Calgary. Phase one included funding of $80 million from the City of Calgary’s Greater Downtown Plan, $25 million from the City’s Municipal Sustainability Initiative, and $135 million from CMLC’s Community Revitalization Levy. The city of Calgary hosts numerous festivals like the Calgary Folk Fest, Sled Island, and High-Performance Rodeo, beautiful architecture, a robust public art scene, BUMP, and modern lifestyle-friendly infrastructure of biking and walking paths.

Creative collaboration is fueling and uniting new industries. Recently, the filming of the HBO series The Last of Us in and around the City of Calgary brought in employment opportunities across a myriad of sectors, including jobs for writers, art directors, accountants, security guards, hotels, and restaurants; A perfect example of how the entire community can benefit from creative projects. And we’re not new to the game. Calgary’s creative industry is ripe with veterans who have been working on prominent, global brands and projects for years and are happy to see the pieces of the puzzle coming together closer to home.

Coming together and using our imaginations to solve problems in creative ways can be truly transformative in ourselves and in our industries. Art is the universal language of the soul, and a city with soul attracts new residents and keeps young people living in Calgary.

Being surrounded by art and creativity adds texture to our everyday lives and makes us happier, and we know that happy people are more productive and bring life to an evolving economy.

The same entrepreneurial mindset that built the energy industry in Calgary will help us to continue to build the creative economy. But instead of driving growth through competition, our industry will be elevated by collaboration; the city’s creative community coming together to lift each other up, celebrate and promote the great work we are doing, and work together on ‘city building’ initiatives that are contributing to the big picture of our city.

Written by Keli Pollock, Creative Director at Daughter Creative, Double Bronze Recipients for Strategy Online's Small and Design Agency of The Year 2022 Awards