PUBLIC ART
2025 was an extremely busy year for public art. Public Art’s team grew this year to include 7 full-time employees and 17 project specialist contractors. In addition, we worked with a series of curators, writers, consultants, and Indigenous Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and project steering committees. Together, this group of employees and contractors are developing plans, engaging communities and delivering over 50 projects and annual programs for the benefit of Calgarians.
There are several public art projects that were initiated in 2025 that are not included in this report. These teams are working on building community engagement plans, hiring artists and curators. Many of these projects are in wards that are underrepresented in public art, and we are excited to report on their progress in 2026.
We continue to work closely with The City of Calgary’s Arts & Culture business unit as well as various other business units to deliver many of our public art projects. You can find out more about the public art program at Calgary Arts Development here.
The Art Bus program helps bring public art into a variety of areas and communities throughout the city by inviting artists to use public transit buses as their canvas. While providing opportunities for artists, it also offers an engaging visual art experience for citizens, and celebrates Calgary’s cultures, communities, histories, geography and diversity. In 2025 the program expanded to include 14 buses — seven artists each created an original artwork that was wrapped on two buses — which were slated to be on the streets from May to October of 2025, but many continued after that date. Learn more here.
The Calgary Public Art Guide is an interactive digital map showing the different forms of public art that shape our streets, parks and gathering spaces in every quadrant of the city. The map includes city-owned pieces, publicly funded and privately commissioned works and grassroots community initiatives. It makes it easy for people to explore artworks that bring life to our public spaces as well as to share their own discoveries. Learn more here.
This program engages local artists to create artworks for banners displayed on light poles and bridges leading into the city core, acting as gateways to Calgary’s downtown and cultural district. Artists develop original artworks that consider the different characteristics of Calgary, and celebrate our cultures, communities, histories, geography and diversity. Display periods last for approximately one year. Słavek Pytraczyk’s artwork launched in spring 2025. Learn more here.
This plan is a community-informed strategy that outlines a long-term vision for public art in Calgary’s Chinatown. It will complement The City’s Chinatown Cultural and Next Steps plans and reflect the cultural values, stories and aspirations of the community. Through extensive community engagement, the plan will identify opportunities for future artworks, preferred forms and themes, and potential funding pathways. In 2025 we completed public engagement for the plan, which will launch in 2026. Learn more here.
The East Calgary International Avenue (ECIA) Public Art Project is a community-informed initiative focused on capturing and sharing stories of one of Calgary’s most culturally diverse areas. While the neighbourhood’s rich mix of cultures is reflected in local businesses, schools and everyday life, many grassroots histories have not been formally documented or commemorated. This is a new, one-time public art opportunity funded by The City of Calgary’s Local Area Planning department (separate from the one per cent for Public Art program). The project will result in two permanent public artworks that will be accessioned into the City of Calgary’s Public Art Collection and maintained over the long term. Learn more here.
In the past 50 years, hundreds of thousands of Calgarians have walked past a time capsule in the city’s Plus 15 system without knowing it was there. Through this podcast project, host Peter Brown uncovers the time capsule’s story and explores its intriguing contents. The podcast offers a revealing, surprising and thought-provoking look at who and what we choose to remember, introducing listeners to engaging characters from Calgary’s past. Learn more here.
This project is investigating how public art can be integrated into the flood mitigation happening along Memorial Drive. In December 2024, after a rigorous international search and thorough assessment, the artist collective Sans façon (Charles Blanc & Tristan Surtees) was selected as the lead artist for the Memorial Parkway Public Art Project. In 2025, Sans façon conducted research and engagement as part of their concept development phase. Learn more here.
Guided by the Métis community in Alberta, this program aims to celebrate and bring more visibility to Métis culture by sharing important cultural knowledge, histories and the ongoing legacies of Métis peoples through public art. Learn more here.
This project enhances Calgary’s public transit spaces by installing reproductions of 32 artworks created by 19 local artists across 16 new BRT shelters. Reproductions of two artworks were printed on glass at each shelter, providing a highly visible platform for artists, and fostering connections between local artists, the public and the city. Learn more here.
This program includes 10 mini galleries located at different community associations in northeast Calgary. It features three exhibitions per year, each one showcasing 10 local artists selected by a local curator for a four-month period. Learn more here.
This program ran from 2023 to 2025 and featured images of artworks from the City of Calgary Public Art Collection on billboards across the city. For each series, different works from the collection were selected by a local curator. Curators identified pieces that could be shown on digital billboards, and particularly in neighbourhoods that do not currently have permanent public artworks installed. Learn more here.
This program is designed to reduce barriers faced by underserved communities. In 2025 we partnered with Immigrant Council for Arts Innovation (ICAI). ICAI programmed artworks in window spaces adjacent to the Centre Street CTrain station platform over the span of the partnership. Not only does this program give access to exhibition space for equity-deserving artists, but it also helps us understand the needs of underrepresented artists so we can learn and adapt our programs. Learn more here.
In 2025 we completed filming a series of professional development workshops designed for artists and members of community groups and commissioning bodies who would like to learn what it takes to create a successful public art project. Ten episodes will be released in 2026 as an online learning opportunity that will demystify the public art process in all phases of development — application, budget, community engagement, fabrication and more. Learn more here.
Public Art Microgrants provide a platform for public art projects that reflect a community’s unique identities and values. Recognizing that impactful public art often begins as grassroots ideas, the Community-Run Public Art Microgrants program provides community-led organizations in Calgary an opportunity to create public art experiences in collaboration with local artists. Successful applicants receive up to $15,000 in funding to bring their artistic visions to life while engaging local artists. This initiative encourages communities to explore themes such as Indigenous stories, social change and local histories, fostering a sense of connection and pride through public art. Learn more here.
The Public Art School Program organizes art presentations and workshops in Calgary schools with students ranging from Grades 1 to 12. In collaboration with local artists and arts educators, we develop interactive educational experiences for school-aged children and youth on the topic of public art. Our goal is to make art and public art accessible to youth across Calgary and to invite local youth to learn about art as a viable career path.
This project is a multi-phase, Indigenous-led public art initiative that honours the children and families connected to the former St. Dunstan’s Indian Industrial School in Calgary. In 2025 we continued conversations with City of Calgary departments, gathered archival information on the history of the site, and formed a project Steering Committee that includes Knowledge Keepers, specialized professionals and descendants of school attendees from each of the Treaty 7 First Nations and the Métis Nation. The Steering Committee will inform the next phases of the memorial project alongside upcoming broader community engagement. Learn more here.
St. Dunstan’s Calgary Indian Industrial School, Calgary, Alberta.”, [ca. 1905], (CU11056821) by unknown. Courtesy of Glenbow Library and Archives Collection, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.
During this residency from June through September 2025, a cohort of eight artists or artist collectives explored the role of public art in advancing climate justice. The program was developed to support artists in researching, experimenting and engaging with community around pressing environmental issues. Learn more here.
Sustainable Futures Residency artists: Apiow Akwai, Bomi Yook, Justin Seiji Waddell, Mao and Chris, Mia + Eric, Kelly Andres, Morgan Possberg, Saeid Asgarian.
Indigenous Public Art Project Specialists are working with steering committees, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers on public at projects with each of the Treaty 7 Nations. These projects are Indigenous and community-led and rooted in reconciliation. Learn more here.
In 2025, the Utility Box Public Art Program selected 14 artists to work with 12 community associations to create 34 new utility box artworks across the city. To explore new ways of supporting artists and communities, we also launched a pilot project in Marda Loop in partnership with the local Business Improvement Area. Curator Stacey Watson collaborated with artist Tayler Schenkeveld to produce artworks for 13 utility boxes, grounding the process in neighbourhood research and engagement. The pilot, completed in fall 2025, will inform how the Utility Box Program evolves in 2026. Learn more here.
