Alberta Ballet commemorates 60 years
The 2026/27 Alberta Ballet season marks the company’s 60th anniversary. Artistic director Francesco Ventriglia has curated a season filled with beloved classics like The Nutcracker, powerful storytelling and extraordinary productions to honour the past while stepping boldly into the future. The milestone season features the 60th Anniversary Gala event, taking place Feb. 11 to 13, 2027, in Calgary — a special mixed program honouring the company’s legacy while looking toward the future of ballet in Alberta and beyond.
This production brings together highlights from the past six decades alongside iconic masterpieces and new creations. Through a dynamic mix of classical and contemporary works, the program reflects the artistic evolution of Alberta Ballet and features performances by the students of Alberta Ballet School, offering a glimpse of the next generation.
Alberta Foundation for the Arts opens its art house
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) art collection was established in 1972 to preserve pieces of Alberta’s art history. In late 2025, the doors opened to the new AFA art house, located in downtown Calgary, a dedicated space for displaying pieces from AFA’s extensive collection. At any given time, 20 to 25 per cent of the collection is on display at locations across Alberta, so the art house offers a guaranteed look at pieces by Albertan artists — some of which have never been publicly displayed before.
Until Sept. 30, see the exhibition Montageries, which showcases 19 artworks that blend the ideas of montage and memories. Montageries was organized by the Alberta Society of Artists to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the AFA art collection. It was also a part of TREX, AFA’s travelling exhibition program that makes art more accessible by showing it at locations like schools, libraries and health-care centres.
BUMP’s new Public Sculpture Program
Originally launched in 2017 as the Beltline Urban Murals Project, the annual BUMP festival recruits local, national and international artists to add new art pieces to Calgary’s streets.
For the 10th festival, BUMP expands the scope of its public art with the introduction of the BUMP public sculpture program.
The new program reflects the ever-changing and conflicting identity of Calgary. As BUMP’s announcement states, Calgary is both “Cowtown and a rapidly densifying urban centre.” The public sculpture program makes this dichotomy visible through temporary art pieces that reflect our current time.
Two artists or artist teams create two sculptures for display in the Beltline, which remain in place for a minimum of three years. The program is intended to become an annual initiative, just like BUMP’s murals. Over time, the evolution of the sculptures will mirror our changing city.
For this new initiative, guest curator Ken Lum, a Canadian and American artist, academic and curator, brought his expertise. Lum was also the keynote speaker at BUMP’s 2025 Urban Art Conference, where he spoke on how the structures of a city reflect or obscure elements of society — a theme the public sculpture program hopes to carry forward.
Calgary Pro Musica celebrates 50th anniversary season
In the University of Calgary’s Rozsa Centre, the Calgary Pro Musica Society brings together talent from the world of chamber music.
While chamber music may not be widely known compared to full orchestra performances, it creates an intimate listening experience. Chamber music is a form of classical music composed to be played by a small group (usually two to eight musicians), with one performer to a part and no conductor.
As proof of how special a chamber music experience is, Calgary Pro Musica celebrates its 50th anniversary season this year. Artistic director Dean O’Brien says the season’s programming will “look backward and forward.” To reflect this theme, Calgary Pro Musica will bring back staples from previous seasons and introduce new works.
Frequent guest ensemble the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center returns, along with the Poiesis Quartet, winners of the 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition. Newly commissioned works from Canadian composers, including Imaginal by Carmen Braden, performed by Canadian violinist James Ehnes, and Jack and the Beanstalk by Claude Lapalme, will be performed at the 2027 Family Concert.
Naming of National accessArts Centre’s The Joseph Chung Centre for Creativity
National accessArts Centre (NaAC) is Canada’s first multidisciplinary disability arts organization, offering people with developmental and physical disabilities opportunities to engage in the arts in ways that may otherwise be inaccessible.
To this end, NaAC is currently fundraising for and developing its new campus — the world’s first accessible, disability-focused arts learning campus. Thanks to a recent generous donation from Vancouver-based business professionals and philanthropists Drs. Peter Chung and Stephanie Chung, NaAC has exceeded 75 per cent of its campaign goal.
To recognize this monumental donation, NaAC is naming the heart of the campus — its learning hub — the Joseph Chung Centre for Creativity, in honour of the Chungs’ late son, Joseph, who lived with autism and epilepsy. The Chungs’ legacy helps to ensure new possibilities for disability arts.
As Peter said at the press conference announcing the naming, “Honouring and remembering our son Joseph means creating opportunity for others.”
The launch of MurMur Theatre
Founded by director, choreographer and dancer Rita Rebetskaia and stage designer Polina Kaulio, MurMur Theatre’s work focuses on visually striking, body-oriented performances.
MurMur’s first show, Woyzeck, debuts this fall. It draws on Rebetskaia’s and Kaulio’s backgrounds to reimagine dramatist Georg Büchner’s unfinished play as a sci-fi that examines how our humanity persists in a world where our bodies, memories and desires are controlled.
MurMur Theatre celebrated its launch in January 2026 with a party and performance of scenes from Woyzeck, but the theatre’s roots date further back. Both Rebetskaia and Kaulio are a part of the TD Incubator program, an artist development program at the Werklund Centre. For the 2025/26 season of TD Amplify, the pair worked with dancer Sierra Oszust and alt-pop band SHY FRiEND to create Episode 1, a piece centred on rage and feminine energy.
New collectives emerge
Local artists are coming together to practise and showcase their works.
In August 2025, four painters and one photographer formed the Uncommon Art Collective. Its debut exhibition, Liminal Space, took place this past spring at Alberta Society of Artists Art Gallery and also featured two workshops. Stay tuned, as the collective is now working on its second exhibition.
The Core Collective started in October 2025, finding its home in the northeast South Airways business park. Eight artists work in a variety of mediums — book a tour of the collaborative studio space and you’ll find paintings, sculptures, fibre arts and mixed media pieces on display.
The historic utility building Substation No. 7 now houses a collective of seven independent businesses — each bringing their own energy, craft and vision. Including a bespoke tailor, a boutique record shop, a graphic studio and Substance Art Gallery, The Substation Collective is a place to gather, hosting pop-ups, events and collaborations, with an open layout designed to shift and evolve.
Vertigo Theatre unveils a season of thrills for 50th anniversary
Calgary’s go-to theatre for a thrilling mystery celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and this season demonstrates exactly why it’s been beloved for so long.
The Lodger kicks things off this fall, running from Sept. 26 to Oct. 25. It’s a stage adaptation of a novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes and the 1927 Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name. Written by Susie Moloney and Vern Thiessen, two of Canada’s most esteemed playwrights, this thriller is beautifully on-brand for Vertigo’s anniversary season.
The rest of the season similarly captures what audiences love so much — intrigue, suspense and whodunits. See Sherlock Holmes: The Hunt for Moriarty, where history’s greatest detective faces off against his greatest enemy. Following that, The 39 Steps, a spy thriller based on another of Hitchcock’s films. If you haven’t had your fill of famous detectives, then you’re in luck with The Midnight Torch: A Detective Murdoch Mystery. The season wraps up with the special presentation Last Candle, a spooky non-verbal visual performance created by Vertigo’s resident company, 8ROJO.
New utility box public art program
Public art initiatives bring communities to life, adding beauty to everyday life. Smaller initiatives, like the utility box public art program, bring art across the city where you least expect it. And this year, this initiative is getting an upgrade.
Since the launch of the program in 2010, more than 300 utility box art pieces have popped up all over the city. Previously, community organizations selected the artists. In 2026, curators connected to the community were selected from Calgary Arts Development’s curatorial roster. They were assigned to each of the five communities chosen for this year’s program: Sunridge, McKenzie Towne, Shawnessy, Bowness/Montgomery and Downtown (specifically 7th Avenue).
The new curator-led program intends to make the utility boxes more cohesive, telling a story throughout the community. Among the curators are Métis poet Cobra Collins, who was nominated for Calgary poet laureate in 2016 and 2018; Mao Kun Chen, a multidisciplinary artist and co-founder of Mao Projects, an art and ceramics studio in Calgary, and Lindy Pruitt, who curated the 2024/25 Northeast Mini Galleries public art exhibition.
Calgary Arts Development also launched Public Art 101, an online professional development series. The 10-part series looks at the ins and outs of creating public art, including planning, budgeting, maintenance and installation.