Calgary's Cultural District

Last year, Maclean’s magazine dubbed Calgary the “most cultured city in Canada,” a moniker which has been internalized and proudly reiterated by our city’s citizens ever since.

It was a relief to some to be recognized for something other than oil and wealth, and it was a source of intense satisfaction to many to be mentioned in a national (i.e. Toronto-based) publication. Finally, people were taking notice that Calgary wasn’t just Cowtown. But the magazine, and the country, noticed something else: “Some Calgarians wish the hype would go away,” wrote Anne Kingston; they worried about losing something authentic as the city boomed.

Today, the city’s cultural and fine arts communities are feeling something different. They are adamant the high quality of cultural experience in the city has deep local roots, and is growing organically — and rapidly — every day. Despite being on the waning side of the boom-and-bust cycle, the arts and culture communities have seen sustained growth. And, what’s more, it’s not imported shows and touring exhibitions that are begging for attention, but the high level of homegrown talent, risk-taking and adaptability. Cultural capital may not be something we are, but rather something we have.

Witness the dismal effects of the current bust on Calgary’s downtown core. Suspended building sites have major streets sinking and developers in court. Infrastructure grants from the province to local institutions for ambitious and much-needed projects, are under review. A rash of high-profile firings, hirings, resignations and retirements have left many organizations in disarray.

However, in the centre of sinkholes, crack addicts and a growing homeless population, lies a space claimed by a collection of business and artistic leaders as the Cultural District. Here is a place where “vibrancy outside out of business hours” will be fostered, according to the Cultural District’s mission statement. This is where, come riches or recession, artistic life is meant to grow, and bring a wider audience with it.

“It’s about destination building and community building,” says Erica Mattson of the Calgary Arts Development Authority (CADA). “Since 2001, the Cultural District collective has worked hard to create a sense of collective ownership in this neighbourhood.”

CADA is responsible for allocating arts and culture funding to organizations on behalf of the municipal governments, and Mattson says the physical location for such
a district makes sense.

“Fifty to 60 percent of the arts organizations we fund are around this area, and Stephen Avenue is so vibrant now that it’s a natural fit,” she says.

Michael Brown, associate vice president of Matthews Developments and chair of the Cultural District’s board, agrees and goes one step further. He describes the rapid transition of Stephen Avenue from an empty, slightly dangerous stretch to a bustling hotspot for young urban professionals, executives and tourists, alike. According to Brown, it took a lot of collaboration, promotion and the adoption of mixed-use space, all of which seemed to happen painlessly and fast.

According to Brown, the physical development of the Cultural District will happen naturally, as people use it — not by putting up signage and printing tourist maps, although that will help.

“When we opened our offices [for Matthews Developments] in the Hotel Regis, the whole street changed around us. We have a hundred people coming in and out every day, using the spaces, venues, and restaurants around it,” says Brown.

“Development is more than a building; it’s a community and an experience. And if someone on the east side of downtown or by
the river says that they feel like they’re a part of the Cultural District, and they tell people that, it’s great! If they feel like they belong to something, that’s success to us.”

The Cultural District now officially stretches from 1st Street S.W. to 3rd Street S.E., and from 6th Avenue S.W. to the CP Rail tracks south of 9th Avenue. It encompasses the Art Gallery of Calgary, the Glenbow Museum, the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts, Art Central, the Grand Theatre and many other artistic and cultural destinations. The original concept
and boundaries of the district were conceived by Colin Jackson, then-president of the Epcor Centre. In 2001, Jackson assembled a group of like-minded citizens for what became the Cultural District Renaissance Society of Alberta, a non-profit organization operating what was then called the Olympic Plaza Cultural District. The name of the organization has since been shortened to Cultural District and is now run in partnership with CADA.

“When you look at the venues and restaurants around that area, there are some pretty amazing things out there,” says Brown, “We just don’t package it that well; we don’t package it to the typical Calgarian.

“Calgary is a city where you still have people who stay in their suburb. I think there’s an opportunity to get those people to look at downtown in a different way, and have a different product to offer. We want people to walk around the area and know that it’s a cultural district.”

Hence, in part, the partnership with CADA, which has recently hired a full-time staff member to oversee the district’s promotion at home and abroad. But having a space that looks like a cultural district and having people stay after 5 p.m. when they live in the ’burbs are two different things.

“It is a real challenge to have people either stay downtown, or come back downtown after work, because of [the city’s] geographic design,” says Anne Green, director of WordFest, the Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival. “Hopefully, the cultural destination initiative will encourage partnerships between organizations that one might not automatically think of.”

Brown agrees and points to the Cultural District’s board as an example of such partnerships. High on their priority list now is gaining memberships from local restaurants, hotels and retailers.

The need for public-private partnerships in Calgary’s cultural community stems from both an economic imperative and a political one.

Partnering with commercial ventures allows for the financial backing needed to sustain staff, infrastructure and promotional activities, while adding cohesion and clout to efforts aimed at City Hall.

Brown, whose most recent project is The Bow, EnCana’s massive curved tower now under construction on the periphery of the Cultural District, is familiar with both realms. Matthews Developments was an early corporate member in the Cultural District.

City bylaws have long given developers permission to build beyond regular height and square footage when they have shown some public benefit to their work, including park space or connections to the Plus-15 walkways. As of 2007, The Bow received its permit to build not only the tallest office tower in Calgary, but another smaller building on the south side of
6th Avenue known as The South Block, which was earmarked to include some cultural space. Voila — a major developer became a part of the community and the community gets
a new development.

“Calgary’s at the point where it can offer more to the community and to the globe,” says Brown, “In some ways, what we’ve done so far is low-hanging fruit. Put a little oomph behind it and we’ll see some tangible results.”

The oomph he’s talking about seems readily available in terms of people. A typical meeting for the Cultural District includes local gallery owners along with representatives from the Calgary Public Library, CADA and the City, and many arts-minded individuals. Attendance is strong, but there’s something aside from promotion of their community and their work that affects them all — money.

“We’re all feeling the economic downturn,” says Green. “There are so many multinationals now that when someone like Time Warner takes a hit — they publish books and magazines and films — it impacts the parts of our industry that are tied to it.”

While book sales in Canada are up (unlike in the U.S. and the U.K.), Green says sponsorships for arts groups have been hugely affected by the downturn. For festivals like hers, which subsidizes general ticket prices and sponsors youth-at-risk attendees, the impact can be serious.

A prime example of the damage done by the economy to the arts community is the fate of the South Block of The Bow. Due to “the economic climate,” the Bow project was scaled back in early April, with priority given to the main building, leaving plans for artistic and cultural space in the South Block in limbo, for the time being.

“To be clear,” reads a statement released by H&R REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), the building’s owner, regarding the suspension: “the operative word in this statement is ‘defer.’ The South Block is not being capped or cancelled.”

In a similar search for the silver lining, Green emphasizes that while corporate sponsorship may have waned a little, the consumer appetite is there and it’s encouraging.

Though there is no firm plan from the Cultural District to combat the faltering corporate support, Green points to the delivery of unique, provocative and timely programming as a source of community investment, and the key to riding out the economic storm.

Strategic oversight, permitting and planning from the City are also encouraging. Beth Gignac, manager of arts and culture for the City, points to the Calgary Public Art Program, and the money allocated to culture from the provincial infrastructure grants, as two examples of the City’s leadership in funding arts and culture relative to the rest of the country — but it also means a reliance on top-down decision making, rather than the organic growth of a community.

“Seeding a cultural community and watching how it grows is sometimes more effective than planting the blooms,” says Lance Carlson, president and CEO of the Alberta College of Art + Design (ACAD). “If I could wave a magic wand and create one thing for our cultural community, it would be to have more live/work spaces for artists in the urban core. Just put them there, permit them, allow them to create. I guarantee something magical would happen to the Olympic Plaza area if you allowed a bunch of artists to just be present.”

Despite this desire for a more organic development, Carlson says a vibrant cultural district would help ACAD and its students. The school recently expanded its mandate to include the advancement of “knowledge and understanding of the importance of visual culture and design to the economic, cultural and social life of the communities and society that it serves.” This task includes ACAD’s recent “Stirring Culture” speaker series, which brings together prominent intellectuals and creative types to discuss the future of cultural institutions and creative life in modern cities.

And there are signs of success in the Cultural District. The District’s most popular initiative, First Thursday, has been a smash hit, bringing a healthy audience to multiple shows and galleries on the first Thursday of each month. Each First Thursday event is a self-guided tour of local attractions and usually culminates with wine and snacks at Art Central. The space fills with hip young urban professionals swigging wine and talking art well into the evening.

To compliment this enthusiasm, a plethora of never-before-seen work from emerging artists is being produced on stages around the city. The Alberta Ballet, Theatre Calgary, the Calgary Opera and others are all creating and performing new works alongside those smaller avant-garde groups that have been doing so for years.

And again, Calgary audiences seem receptive. The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra enjoyed its highest level of ticket sales last season. So did Theatre Calgary. WordFest continues to sell out author readings, most recently for an appearance by well-known economist and writer Jeff Rubin.

Credit crunch or cash cow, Calgary continues to perform. “It’s really critical that we keep people thinking and broadening their point of view,” says Green. “It’s part of why we’re here — to be relevant and pertinent to the community. It’s simply part
of what we do and it won’t change.”

And here’s something else that hasn’t changed; in May 2009, Maclean’s ranked Calgary the nation’s most cultured city yet again. We may have fewer venues than many urban centres, the magazine decreed, but we go to them more often.

And, soon enough, if the Cultural District organizers have their way, people will know exactly where they are.