AWARENESS AND CONNECTION
Through our website; newsletter, including the popular Classifieds section and our Storytelling Project; social media platforms: Facebook, CADA X, yycwhatson X, Instagram, LinkedIn; online community directories; and events, we strive to be an information hub for the arts in Calgary.
Create Calgary is a magazine that tells stories about artists, artworks and arts events in our city. Its purpose is to promote some of the amazing art stories in our city, to act as an invitation into the arts and a catalyst for conversation about the arts. In 2024 we printed 30,000 copies that were distributed through stores, libraries, community centres and other gathering places throughout the city.
Signature events in 2024 included our Report to Community at cSPACE King Edward on June 25; Celebration for the Arts hosted by Mayor Gondek at the Jack Singer Concert Hall on October 4, including the presentation of the Cultural Leaders Legacy Arts Awards; and the Living a Creative Life Congress: Art for Social Change at the Central Public Library on December 4 and 5.
The Celebration for the Arts hosted by Mayor Gondek took place at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Arts Commons on October 4. Pre-show entertainment included a community art-making project led by Paula Timm and Harvey Nichol celebrating Calgary’s new brand Blue Sky City. More than 700 people were in attendance for an evening featuring emcee Karla Marx and several local performers.
The lineup included dancer Meg Ohsada; choirs from Bowness, North Trail, Joane Cardinal-Schubert and Lester B. Pearson High Schools; Woeza Africa Music and Dance Theatre; a fashion show collaboration with MakeFashion Collective and Native Diva Creations featuring designs by IndiCity, Georgina Metzler, Chelsea Klukas, Kathryn Blair, Sydney Pratt, Maria Orduz, Alexis Saulteaux and Melrene Saloy-EagleSpeaker; and a Women in Song Circle featuring Mariya Stokes, Tea Fannie and Zoe Theodorou. Speakers included Patti Pon, Chima Nkemdirim, Simon Mallet, Sarah Garton Stanley and Mayor Gondek. The after-party featured DJ Goodword and a delicious buffet catered by Great Events. This is a much-anticipated event in Calgary’s arts community, a true celebration of artists and the arts in our city.
Our appreciation also goes out to the partners and sponsors of this year’s Celebration for the Arts.
Recipients of the 2024 Cultural Leaders Legacy Arts Awards were announced at the event in video segments featuring interviews with award-winners and sponsors. Each Legacy Award winner received a $5,000 cash prize funded by a contribution from a local philanthropist or organization. Recipients are selected by a jury of peers.
In 2024, 56 outstanding artists and organizations were nominated, representing just some of the artistry that vitalizes our city every day. We thank all the benefactors, nominators and juries of these awards, and congratulate all the nominees and the 2024 recipients:
The ATB Powering Possibility Through the Arts Award recognizes and supports organizations that are committed to enriching Calgary through arts programming that powers possibilities for the local creative community. Award recipient Immigrant Council for Arts Innovation connects and engages newcomers and immigrant artists and arts professionals to the existing arts community for professional engagement through mentorship and professional development.
The Calgary Catholic Immigration Society New Canadian Artist Award was established to recognize that artists from all parts of the world enrich Calgary’s arts sector, to help artists pursue their artistic work and connect with the institutions and support networks that are available to all Calgary artists. Award recipient Han Sungpil spotlights Canada’s most significant environmental issues of increasing wildfires and melting glaciers. His work serves as an amplifier to the public to raise environmental awareness.
The Legacy of Doug and Lois Mitchell Outstanding Calgary Artist Award was established to honour artists who are lauded for their work in national and international arenas and choose to make Calgary their home. Award recipient Paulo da Costa broadens the discussion of patriarchy’s cost. In lyrical prose he seeks social change the way water changes rock — with a soft voice and endless purpose.
The Mamdani Arts Leadership Award recognizes and rewards the integral role of board members who lend their expertise, talent and time to supporting the work of arts organizations and festivals that make Calgary a vibrant and creative city. Award recipient Suneetha Alokam is a dedicated arts leader with the ability to connect different arts communities. She has a vision to promote multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion and has a passion for creating a platform for local talent connecting to cultural roots.
The RBC Emerging Artist Award was established to recognize up-and-coming Calgary-based artists. Award recipient Kamika Bianca Guerra-Walker is committed to using her talents as a multidisciplinary artist to aid the city’s unhoused population and foster the BIPOC arts community in Calgary.
The Rozsa Foundation Emerging Arts Manager Award is intended to honour an early career arts administrator who is doing noteworthy work, both within the organizations that they are working for, but also in the broader community. Award recipient Sue-Shane Tsomondo is being recognized for her transformative leadership at M:ST Performative Art Society during the company’s critical period of transition.
TD Bank Group is very proud to sponsor the Indigenous Artist Award and to recognize this year’s winner, Mackenzie Brown. This award was created to recognize the contributions of Indigenous artists, crafts peoples and knowledge keepers to Calgary. “My name is Kamamak, or Mackenzie in English. As a young girl I was taught about balance. The balance between traditional and contemporary. This is how I live my life — with a moccasin in both worlds.”
We acknowledge and thank the benefactors whose generosity made these awards possible
Learn more about the Cultural Leaders Legacy Arts Awards here.
The 2024 Living a Creative Life Congress: Art for Social Change took place at the Central Public Library on December 4 and 5. This year focused once again on Art for Social Change, exploring the topic through the lens of our city’s new branding, Blue Sky City, and how Calgary can live up to that promise and potential.
Over the two days, people contributed to community art projects, heard from artists who are practising art for social change and learned about the opportunities and the challenges, took part in breakout room conversations and art-making activities, and enjoyed an evening featuring award-winning writer and speaker Jesse Wente, chair of the board for the Canada Council for the Arts, in conversation with Patti Pon.
Unfortunately, the online portion of the event did not run smoothly, in large part due to a recent cybersecurity attack at the Calgary Public Library and related issues with the wifi connection. The online portion of the event started late on the first day, and streaming was not available on the second day.
Those who attended in person enjoyed two days of presentations, sessions and workshops. A full rundown of the event can be found here.
Shone Thistle is an author, poet and multidisciplinary artist. Their work ranges from radio to jazz ensemble, festival to conference keynote, inner city cabaret to gallery by the sea. In the world of competitive poetry, they’ve received perfect scores at the renowned Nuyorican Poets Café. They recently wrote, produced and collaborated on Nipiy l’aoue Water We, a sound art installation and cabaret performance for Arts Commons.
“Poetry is like a sixth sense; it’s how I explore the world around me and how I find my place in it,” says Shone Thistle. “The awkward, Queer, latchkey kid in me would never believe they were being recognized so publicly for their way of being in the world. I’m not sure I believe it, but best be sure, I am going to let this honour sink deep into my bones and I will write from that place as my tribute to those who’ve come before me. Thank you.”
Shone’s writing can be found in several anthologies, including Mic Check: An Anthology of Canadian Spoken Word Poetry, and YYC POP: Poetic Portraits of the People.
When Shone is not writing or making other art, they are proudly serving their community as executive director of Calgary Queer Arts Society.
We thank Calgary Foundation and Calgary Public Library for their support of the Poet Laureate Program.
Find out more about Calgary’s Poet Laureate program here.