RESEARCH

Research

We have been dedicated to using research to gain evidence-based knowledge about our sector for years. Data from our own studies and external projects build our knowledge and guide our decisions. Calgary Arts Development is seen as an arts research leader in Canada.

Our research manager Greg Burbidge participates with several networks and partners including Canadian Arts Data / Données sur les arts au Canada (CADAC), Canadian Public Arts Funders Research Group, Community Data Project, Cultural Research Network, and Municipal Arts Research Network. Other research partners and collaborators include Calgary Economic Development, Canada Council for the Arts, the Conference Board of Canada, Creative Cities Network of Canada, and DataArts.

 

Our research activities increase our capacity as a knowledge hub and improve our ability to be a strategic advisor to City Council.

Research projects in 2023 included the following:

 

Building Experiences in the New Economy

 

Calgary Arts Development has been supporting research conducted by Stone-Olafson about the effects of COVID on the live experience economy. It was originally published in November 2021 and updated in May 2022 and April 2023. What started as a pandemic response tool has transformed into an ongoing research collaboration initiative to support leaders with facts about the market and their audiences, including motivations, behaviours and messaging opportunities.

 

The 2023 research indicated the following trends.

  • Audiences are hesitant to return to live performance and their hesitance is fueled by more than just COVID. Despite higher comfort levels, hesitation to participate in activities is still present for a variety of reasons – the most notable is affordability. The overall level of spending is still significant, but Albertans are being ‘squeezed,’ wallets are constrained, and Albertans are spending a high portion of their income on basic living expenses.

  • Expectations are high and experience matters. Because both dollars and expectations are squeezed, audiences have indicated that their threshold for poor experiences is quite low. In fact, about two people out of 10 indicate they will not return to an experience if it falls flat. In short, there is little room for error.

 

The full report can be found here.

 

CreativeCITY: Prosperity through the Creative Economy Strategic Guidebook

 

We were partners and supporters on the development of the CreativeCITY Guidebook which was published in 2023.

 

The CreativeCITY steering committee worked over several months from 2020 to 2021 to develop a plan. The four strategic pillars of this plan were later reviewed, discussed, dissected and tested by 500-plus Calgarians in the creative economy in 2022. The strategic guidebook is the culmination of that work, presenting a revised, more detailed, action-oriented plan. Calgary Arts Development and Calgary Economic Development are the stewards of this plan — supporting the development and engagement process financially, but also championing this work into the future.

 

The guidebook is meant to be used in conversation with municipal, provincial and federal partners, and by anyone looking to grow Calgary’s creative economy. It can also form the basis for new relationships between existing creative economy players by offering a basis for alignment of intentions, purposes and activities. It provides formal recommendations for actions, policies, and community and industry interventions to support human, environmental, social and economic prosperity through the creative economy.

 

The full report can be found here.