Collections

Art Bus 2024
To help bring public art into a variety of areas and communities throughout the city, Calgary Arts Development invited artists to use a public transit bus as their canvas for a new original artwork. This spring, a call went out to artists to submit their qualifications to wrap a public transit bus with art. During the selection process, we identified an opportunity to wrap two additional buses, bringing the total to seven. These buses will be in service for 12 weeks in the fall of 2024, and will be seen by an estimated 76 per cent of Calgarians seven times, for a total of 10.3 million impressions. In addition to the exterior bus wrapping, panels on the inside of the bus will share information about the artist and show some of their pre-existing artworks. Selected artists were asked to make an original artwork in response to one of the following themes that consider the multiple contexts of Calgary/Mohkinsstsis and the communities the buses will connect with: Honour Indigenous stories and perspectives Public transit as social space Share stories of your community Bring beauty, joy, whimsy and hope This temporary public art project provides opportunities for artists, offers an engaging visual art experience for citizens, and celebrates Calgary’s cultures, communities, histories, geography and diversity.
Art Bus 2025
The Art Bus program helps bring public art into a variety of areas and communities throughout the city by inviting artists to use a public transit bus as their canvas. This temporary public art project provides opportunities for artists, offers an engaging visual art experience for citizens, and celebrates Calgary’s cultures, communities, histories, geography and diversity.
Artist-Initiated Public Art Microgrants
BUMP Murals
Bridgeland Benches
Bridgeland Riverside Community Art
CMLC's Art in the Public Realm
One of the East Village Master Plan’s key placemaking strategies, CMLC’s Art in the Public Realm program strives to create engaging spaces that surprise, delight and provoke connection and memorable interaction for residents and visitors through temporary and permanent art installations. Since 2010, the program has brought dozens of sculptures, murals and other installations to the neighbourhood.
Community-Run Public Art Microgrants
The Community-Run Public Art Microgrant Program provides a platform for communities to initiate and lead public art projects that reflect their unique identities and values. Recognizing that impactful public art often begins as grassroots ideas, this program encourages community-led organizations in Calgary/Mohkinstsis 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.
Inglewood Community Art
Kensington Community Art
North Central BRT Shelter Art Installations
The North Central Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Shelter Art Installations 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 will be printed on glass at each shelter — installation is planned for spring 2025 and is expected to be complete in summer 2025. Part of The City of Calgary’s larger North Central BRT development, this project continues the commitment to integrate public art into transit infrastructure. Through this initiative, Calgary Arts Development and The City of Calgary provide a highly visible platform for artists, fostering connections between local artists, the public and the city. The project aims to enrich the daily commute for thousands of Calgarians while celebrating the diverse cultural and artistic perspectives represented in the artworks.
Rotary Park Mini Galleries
The Bison and The Dragon: Untold Tales
This public artwork displayed in the Chinatown community incorporates animals that are important to the Niitsitapi people, most notably the bison and the golden eagle.
The City of Calgary Public Art Collection
The City of Calgary has an art collection of over 1300 works including outdoor sculptures located in parks and plazas, installations integrated into infrastructure, monuments, memorials, environmental art, temporary projects, street art and functional objects.
Threads of Belonging - Northeast Mini Galleries Exhibition
As a first-generation immigrant, I’ve experienced firsthand the importance of finding a sense of belonging in a new city. Northeast Calgary, with its vibrant neighbourhoods, has become a place where newcomers and longtime residents alike can feel at home. The theme of this Northeast Mini Gallery Exhibition is “Belonging” and celebrates the connections that unite us — through shared stories, cultural roots and the creative expressions of artists who are linked to this dynamic community. The selected artworks reflect a range of experiences and perspectives. Some of the artists have lived in northeast Calgary for years, while others are connected to its neighbourhoods through their work, culture or memories. Together, their pieces create a rich tapestry of stories about identity, resilience and the relationships we build with our surroundings. Many of the works draw inspiration from personal experiences, cultural heritage and the local community. Karen Thompson’s piece sheds light on Indigenous perspectives through traditional beadwork that fosters understanding, dialogue and cultural representation. Anvita Bhatti’s artwork celebrates South Asian culture and beauty, resonating with the diverse population of the area. Others, like Firuze Avci’s reflection on migration, explore the journey of finding home and belonging, a theme that resonates deeply with northeast Calgary’s multicultural identity. The Mini Galleries provide a unique opportunity to showcase these pieces within the neighbourhoods they reflect. For example, Jamie Kim’s journey finds a fitting home in Winston Heights-Mountview, while Gurpreet Brring’s Garden of Trust celebrates themes of community, trust and collaboration in Falconridge/Castleridge. These thoughtful placements create a connection between the art and its environment, inviting viewers to see their own community in a new light. Phoenix Ning’s Me and My Bestest offers an intimate perspective on identity and relationships in Beddington Heights Park, providing visitors with a moment of reflection and connection to their surroundings. At its core, this exhibition is about connection — between the artists, the neighbourhoods and the people who call northeast Calgary home. It celebrates the stories that make each community unique while reminding us of the shared threads that unite us all. I hope this exhibit inspires conversations, reflections and a deeper appreciation for the vibrant spirit of northeast Calgary. — Mao Kun Chen
Unbreakable - Northeast Mini Galleries Exhibition
Unbreakable is an exhibition curated by AJ Kluck for the Northeast Mini Galleries, located in communities throughout Calgary’s northeast quadrant. Calgary or Moh’kinstsis or Wicispa Oyade or Guts’ists’i has a complicated history. A history that has seen colonization and broken treaties, a history that has seen love and joy, floods and droughts, creation and destruction. We are all Treaty people here in Treaty 7. We all have a responsibility, and the ability to create a relationship with the land. We have a responsibility to make this world a little bit of a better place. We have the responsibility to ask ourselves: How do we show up in reciprocity? How do we show up in caring and thoughtful ways? How do we take care of each other, ourselves, the water, the rocks, the plants and animals? The answer lies in the relationships we build. We develop deep and long-standing relationships through small daily efforts — we must ground ourselves and find our strength in these. The artists chosen in this exhibition are living these truths in clear and actionable ways. Leading in their own style. The artists’ identities and experiences encompass a wide and vibrant range of realities. In this collection of artworks there are artists who are Black, Indigenous and People of Colour, people who are guides in childbirth, people who are disabled, people who are immigrants, people who are teaching art classes to their communities, people who grew up loving and memorizing their streets, people who rescue and foster animals, queer people, people who are celebrating their culture with vulnerability and care — everyone shares a beautiful history of having a meaningful relationship to the northeast. Artists have the job of explaining the world around them. Their job is to communicate their experience, to show their experience of life through art. This exhibition is a glimpse into the deep, and diverse reality of people living in community, as neighbours, as Treaty people. It is about connection and support and care. It is a celebration. It is a small representation of the lives of those who are bound to a place, the northeast and, ultimately, bound to each other. lim̓lm̓t — AJ Kluck
Utility Box Public Art Program
Since 2010, more than 200 utility box public artworks have been created by local artists, students and community partners throughout Calgary. Temporary works of art add interest and creativity to our street corners. They create a sense of place and identity for communities and help prevent graffiti.
WATERSHED+
WATERSHED+ is an innovative and unique public art program hosted by Utilities and Environment Protections department of the City of Calgary. WATERSHED+ is a way of working that aims to develop awareness and pleasure in the environment, not by changing water management practice, nor developing a uniform visual language, but rather by creating a climate of opportunity for water initiatives to build an emotional connection between people and the watershed. Its guiding motive is to embed artists and, more specifically, their creative process within UEP core activities and the Calgary watershed. This program presents an innovative approach to public art and a distinct way of working with the public and other partners. WATERSHED+ proposes a long term plan which represents a major step in taking creative practice further into the day-to-day activities of UEP and implementing new working methods and processes. WATERSHED+ is currently in its Pilot Period, an initial 18 months to establish and develop the foundations of the program. The WATERSHED+ program was developed by artist team sans façon through the UEP Public art Plan.