OVERVIEW
We acknowledge that there has been art, music, dance, storytelling and ceremony on this land since time immemorial and it is in the spirit of this land and its people that we do our work.
Acknowledging the traditional territories on which we gather has become a customary practice at Calgary Arts Development and an important step in our truth and reconciliation journey.
More than just words to memorize and recite, the land acknowledgment is a way to remember and honour the Original Peoples of this land — those who have stewarded this land for millennia. The land acknowledgment goes hand in hand with our commitment to ensuring Indigenous art and artists are given respect and support, not only through our programs specifically for Indigenous artists but through all our programs.
We believe that finding a personal connection to the land acknowledgment is essential and we strive to communicate that personal meaning every time. It is important to connect our work through good relations with this land and the peoples who have lived here since time immemorial.
2025 was a year of change, particularly with our shareholder — city council — with a new mayor and 10 new council members elected in the fall. We extend deep gratitude to the previous city council for believing in the significant role the arts play in making our city better every day and we look forward to getting to know the new councillors and what’s important to them and their wards.
One of our roles as the city’s designated arts development authority is to be a strategic advisor to The City. As a civic partner, we work alongside city council to deliver on their strategic priorities through the arts.
In 2025 Calgary Arts Development invested $15 million in the arts sector through 653 grants that supported more than 39,500 arts activities, including more than 9,500 activities for youth, that attracted 5.6 million participants and audience members. It was a busy year.
The arts continue to play an important role in Calgarians’ lives and people are engaging with the arts in many ways. Overall perceptions of the arts remain positive with more than three-quarters of Calgarians believing that arts and culture activities can expose people to new ideas and perspectives, as well as foster a sense of understanding and empathy for others. Belonging continues to be a factor the arts can impact significantly. These are things we need now more than ever in this age of polarization and loneliness.
We know the arts provide hope in good times and in bad, and we are thankful that our city council recognizes the value of the arts to improve the lives of Calgarians. Artists and the arts bring people together, share our stories, shape our identity, and create moments of joy and connection in a fractured world.
The pages of this report outline the work we undertook in 2025 to be good stewards of the public funds entrusted in us. We invest these funds in ways that make Calgary a better city in which to work, live and play. There were many highlights in 2025 including the Citizen Reference Panel that worked on the next phase of the arts development strategy Living a Creative Life, a plethora of research that we undertook and published, the Creating Our Calgary civic engagement program, an increase in the number of public art projects either launched or in the works, and so much more. We look forward to continuing our work as an arts funder, champion, commissioner, connector and opportunity-maker in the years to come.
Chima Nkemdirim
Board Chair
2025 was an extraordinary year. I had the great opportunity to accept the invitation from OCAD U (Ontario College of Art and Design University) to be the inaugural Policy Fellow at the Cultural Policy Hub for three months in the spring of 2025. It’s because of the remarkable board and staff at Calgary Arts Development that I could step away and not worry for one moment that my presence would be missed. I want to thank Chima Nkemdirim and the entire board for allowing me to take the opportunity and I extend my gratitude to the leadership team for stepping in while I was away, with a special thank you to Melissa Tuplin for taking on the role of Acting President & CEO.
One of the big things I learned while I was away is that all eyes are on Calgary! Especially in reference to the $5 billion of cultural infrastructure that is coming into our city, I was repeatedly asked “What’s happening in Calgary?” We are being seen as an important arts and culture city in other parts of Canada so let’s embrace that identity and truly live up to it. We have a great story to tell.
Calgary is growing fast and is close to reaching two million residents. When that happens, more than half of the people who call Calgary home will belong to groups that we now refer to as visible minorities. This is an exciting prospect and a chance for the arts to thrive and tell the stories of our city’s growing diversity.
I want to see Calgary realize its potential as a creative city. I want to see a city filled with the widest possible variety of colour, shapes, sounds, movement, creativity, innovation, connection, caring and imagination. I want Calgary to be a city for all Calgarians, where all our stories are valued and held and make us who we are. I want Calgarians to wrap their arms around the arts and through that connection know that we all belong.
This is what the arts and artists do — they bring together groups of people who otherwise might not share space. When you’re enjoying music at the Folk Festival or at the Calgary Phil, when you’re mesmerized by the beauty and skill of the dancers at the Ballet or at a Pow Wow, when you’re swept away by the pageantry and food at a cultural festival, when you’re laughing out loud at a comedy or improv show, when you’re seeing a film with complete strangers at one of the film festivals in town, it doesn’t matter if the person beside you looks like you, or thinks like you, dresses like you, agrees with you or sees the world the same way as you. For that moment you’re together, sharing an experience and making a memory.
Our research shows that virtually every residential block in Calgary is home to at least one arts household and we hope that will continue when we hit two million or five million or even 10 million. Let the arts be the thing that brings us together, strengthens our bonds, shares our stories, gives us hope and tells the world Calgary is a place where everyone lives their most creative lives.
Patti Pon
President & CEO