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.