CentreCity

20 Minute Makeover Sweeping through our Centre City!

The 20 Minute Makeover in our Centre City is fast-approaching so mark your calendars!

From Wednesday, June 6 to Saturday, June 9, 2012, Calgarians are invited to participate in a city-wide litter cleanup. So take 20 minutes and grab a garbage bag and gloves and clean up a boulevard, back alley or park – any public space benefits from a few minutes of special attention. Then, deposit collected litter in your regular garbage.

Here's  how to take part in the 20 Minute Makeover:

Join the challenge by signing up! If you have a group of twenty or more, garbage bags will be available for your group. Everyone who signs up will be entered to win prizes. While registration is optional, we encourage you to sign up so we can map the cleanup.

We also encourage you to post your before and after photos on 3 Things for Calgary. Group activities and events will be posted there too. If you’d like to be part of a group event, watch the site for a location near you. If you’re planning a group event, we are happy to post details of your event on the events page. 

Questions? Contact​ the 20-Minute Makeover Team and visit our website at www.calgary.ca/20minutemakeover, or call 3-1-1

Public Art Going Mobile

We've had buskers on (and by) the bus, parades through our +15s in the Centre City, but never a performance art cooking demo on our Calgary LRT system...

Art on Track is the world's largest mobile public art exhibition and it is based in Chicago. We stumbled upon it this week and thought we'd share with you. Over the years, they've had CTA cars filled with colourful balloons, gardenscapes, kitchen scenes, plays, paper flowers, faux stained glass displays, colourful mobiles and some simply amazing light installations.

(photo from www.builtontrack.com)

When we came across this we just thought it was such a creative way to incorporate public art into peoples' lives. To check out more of the photos from this event in Chicago, click here.

(faux stained glass exhibit on Chicago CTA train - photo from their Facebook page)

What do you think about this public art concept? Have you had a chance to enjoy our own Folk on the CTrain in the past? Did you ever have the opportunity to witness the amazing Truck Gallery "Camper" - their mobile art gallery? Do you want more public art on the move? Leave us a comment if have a moment!

Opera in the Alley

Mercury Opera and Downtown Calgary are getting ready to dazzle us in the Centre City with an operascape in the alley behind Stephen Avenue Walk. It's called Alley Oop and it's happening the evening of May 4th, 2012.

What is an operascape? Think stiltwalking, dance, opera singers, magnificent costume, lighting and the music...oh the music! Can you imagine the acoustics in that space?! This is just the sort of thing we love in the Centre City; good times in a unique space...we can't wait! Check out this link for more information about Alley Oop.

 

Look But Don't Touch

Our +15 system in the Centre City is a great escape from the April rain (and slush)...and yes, it is a wonderful way to take a more direct route from point A to point B...it also doubles as an excellent space in which to display art.

There's a new +15 exhibit by Mohammad Rezaei titled You can Look But You Can't Touch and we definitely think you should take some time over the next month and a bit to check it out. But you cannot touch it! 

Rezaei's exhibit features his so-called "painting machine" and it will produce a series of oil paintings throughout the exhibition. This will bring you into witnessing the process of art - an often intangible creative event. It's also intended to be a commentary on the lack of contact between the art and artist...a great exhibit to get us thinking about the traditional white box galleries we've grown accustomed to being the backdrop for our consumption of art. 

So the next time you feel like taking a leisurely lunchtime stroll through the +15s, check it out. Rezaei's project is located in the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts +15 pedestrian walkway, 205 - 8th Ave SE (Second Level) and it runs through to May 24th, 2012. 

 And you know what? If you have an idea you think would translate well within the +15 window display landscape, visit the TRUCK Gallery's website for details on proposal submissions. The next deadline (May 4th) is fast approaching. 

(photo via Truck.ca)

Downward Dog in East Village

Yoga lovers young and old, novice or experienced, you're all invited to bring your best sun salutations to the Centre City for the first Yoga in the Village session of the spring season on Sunday, April 22nd, 2012.

Hosted by local yoga instructor Jeff Mah (pictured below), this all-levels class promises to be a fun time for everyone in our lovely East Village. T

he session will take place in the historic Simmons building and admission is by donation (funds raised go to Friends of Kananaskis). This class begins at 9:30 am.

What a cool, energizing way to get to know your East Village! After yoga, why not head on over to the East Village Experience Centre? Or take a little cool-down walk along the RiverWalk? Namaste.

(photo from Jeff Mah's personal website)

CMLC's New Digs

Spring has finally sprung in the city and what a great week it is for the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation to get their move-on! The group is leaving the Simmons Building in East Village and setting up shop in another beloved Centre City historical building: The Hillier Block: 

photo by Ricky Leong 

 

Thanks to the CMLC, the Hillier Block went from this...

 Lovingly restored and renewed...The CMLC's new headquarters!

The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation has long called the Simmons Building home but the time has come to make this exciting move to 429 - 8th Avenue SE.

Freeing up the Simmons building (pictured below)  means the iconic space can now become a fantastic community gathering space.

All the details still need to be flushed out but know this: it'll be a place for area dwellers and visitors alike to enjoy. This is an important aspect of creating a thriving and vibrant Centre City, particularly as the East Village continues to gain momentum in its redevelopment plans. The old mattress building has served the CMLC well - time now to share with the rest of Calgary! 

(photo by Jenny Eggermont)

To read more about the CMLC click here. And to visit the East Village Experience website, click here. 

Go For a Gallery Walkabout This Weekend

As part of the This is My City festival, a series of Saturday art gallery walks has been planned - and you're invited.

Each Saturday through to April 28th 2012, gallery volunteers will lead groups through the Other Voices exhibits at participating galleries (MOCA, Calgary Public Library, The New Gallery's main space and also their +15 Window, Glenbow, and TRUCK). It'll take a few of these tours for you to get to see all of the exhibits but it is well worth the time and pedometer clicks! 

If you've ever wanted to check out some of these amazing art spaces in the Centre City, this is a great chance to get a proper tour and hear the stories behind the galleries and the exhibits. 

 

Here are the tour details: 

April 14th, 21st, 28th

12 noon to 1:30 pm 

Meet at The New Gallery Main Space, 2nd Floor Art Central, #212, 100 – 7th Ave SW 

Cost: Pay what you can 

Presented by This is My City Art Society 

If you're looking for more ideas on what to do in your Centre City, visit Downtown Calgary's wesbsite here.  

Where to Park

 

It's a welcome idea to some Calgarians: parking signs in our Centre City that are easier to read and understand.

The idea to change the look of those sometimes confusing signs - about where and when you can park is being talked about. Check out the Global Calgary TV news story here.

What do you think of this idea? Leave us a comment - we always look forward to your feedback.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(photo by dawning.ca)

From Copenhagen to Calgary

 

If you like bikes and just the whole culture of getting around by foot here's a lecture that will get your gears (sorry!) turning... Tonight (April 10th) at the John Dutton Theatre in the Central Public Library, Bicycle Program Manager from the City of Copenhagen, Andreas Rohl, and lead active transportation planner for Urban Systems Ltd., Brian Patterson, are set to give an inspired talk about creating a bike-able and walkable environment.

This free lecture called Bringing Copenhagen to Calgary is sponsored by Urban Systems Ltd. and The City of Calgary and everyone is invited. After the talk, you're encouraged to bring your thoughts and questions to the table - it's a great opportunity to pick the brains of people who really live, eat and breathe the bike and pedestrian way of life.

Rohl manages the City of Copenhagen's Bicycle Program (Cykelsekretariat) and Patterson has worked on transportation plans and studies throughout British Columbia and Alberta. The two have recently begun work together at Urban Systems Ltd.

The talk is happening tonight from 7 to 9 pm at the John Dutton Theatre (616 Macleod Trail SE) and if you happen to have the time to do so, an RSVP is requested to: Calgary@urban-systems.com.

In the meantime, check out this video featuring Andreas Rohl and his bike philosophies put together by the BBC.

 

State of the Arts - Calgary Arts Development

(photo by osiatynska)

There are some phenomenal artists who call Calgary home. That's a fortunate fact for all of us becuase the thriving and vital arts scene in Calgary is what often brings us together. The arts help us celebrate, it brings friends together, it challenges our minds. Our arts scene also provides myriad jobs and is a huge financial draw for the city (much of it in our very own Centre City).

Support of and within the arts community clearly matters and that's why Calgary Arts Development is hosting a discussion series as a means of taking the temperature of the city's arts scene. They're calling it: Dialogue Series: How Are We Doing? Progress, Bright Spots and Work to Do. 

Over the next few weeks, you're invited to spend just a few hours of your time to talk about how we're doing in Calgary's arts scene. Share you thoughts on what's working, maybe a little of what's not, and also where you see us headed in the future.

What will come out of this dialogue series is a report on the "Current State of the Arts" - slated for May 2012. This is a big year for us in Calgary given our status as Cultural Capital of Canada for 2012 so what better time to get involved in cultivating new and exciting ideas? 

Take a look at the schedule and read more about this series or sign up one of the sessions.