Latest news with #CalgaryArtsDevelopment
Calgary Herald
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Civic partner criticized for spending $65,000 on phone line to listen to Bow River
A fiscal watchdog is taking the city's public art authority to task for spending tens of thousands of dollars on a phone line that allowed people to listen to recorded sounds of the Bow River. Article content The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) issued a freedom of information request to the city in 2024, revealing that the Reconnecting to the Bow public art project cost taxpayers $65,194. Article content Article content Article content 'If someone wants to listen to a river, they can go sit next to one, but the City of Calgary should not force taxpayers to pay for this,' the federation's Alberta director, Kris Sims, said in a news release on Thursday. Article content Article content The project was led by Calgary Arts Development, which has run the city's public art program since 2021. Article content A web page devoted to the audio art project states Reconnecting to the Bow invited Calgarians to 'connect to the Bow River' by calling a hotline to listen to recordings of the river water as it gurgled and babbled. Article content The toll-free phone number — (1-855-269-5786) — was active from August to December 2024. Article content Calling that number now returns an automated message stating the project has concluded. Article content The public art project, a relaunch of a 2014 initiative called Varying Proximities, also included several promotions for the hotline throughout the city on billboards, at transit stations and on social media platforms. Article content Article content Emails the federation obtained from the city revealed the project cost just over $65,000. The budget included approximately $32,000 in installation costs, $15,000 in artist fees, $14,000 in consulting fees and technical support, and $3,500 for communication and research. The project also included the costs to activate the phone number. Article content The arts group collaborated with Broken City Lab, a Windsor, Ont.-based interdisciplinary artist collective.
CTV News
19-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Taxpayer group wants Bow River phone line disconnected
A couple paddle a raft in the Bow River trying to beat the heat in Calgary, Alta., Wednesday, June 30, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh Calgarians were charged $65,000 to support an art project that allowed residents to listen to the gurgling waters of the Bow River, a funding watchdog says. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is lashing out against the Reconnecting to the Bow project, a city-funded initiative that involved a hotline connecting callers to the sound of the Bow River at any time. CTF says the project is unnecessary and a waste of money. 'If someone wants to listen to a river, they can go sit next to one, but the City of Calgary should not force taxpayers to pay for this,' said Kris Sims, CTF Alberta director, in a news release. 'If phoning a river floats your boat, you do you, but don't force your neighbour to pay for your art choices.' The phone line, which is accessed by calling 1-855-BOW-LSTN (1-855-269-5786), was originally introduced in 2014 and reintroduced by the Calgary Arts Development Authority last year. The authority said during the first 10 days of launch thousands of people called the hotline. The project is expected to run until December.
CBC
22-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
National arts council initiative launched to address underfunding in Alberta arts sector
Those with a stake in Canada's arts sector don't think Alberta is getting an equitable share of national arts funding. In order to address the problem, the Canada Council for the Arts is launching the Alberta Focus Initiative to increase awareness about funding opportunities for local artists. Starting this spring, two arts liaison consultants will be hired to build an on-the-ground presence for the council in Alberta to increase awareness about the council's funding opportunities for artists within the province. "We need to learn more about: what is the arts sector like in Alberta? And so having a local presence of the Canada Council for us to learn, but also to develop those relationships, is really the basis as to why we decided to create this initiative," said Michelle Chawla, director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts. Chawla says she doesn't feel the Alberta arts sector is being supported like it should be, so the liaison consultants will help ensure that arts organizations and artists across various disciplines in the province will get better access to the Canada Council's funding opportunities. She also says her organization hopes to work with all levels of arts funders in the province to help "move the needle" on increased funding for Alberta's arts sector. Fewer applications, less Alberta representation In terms of why Alberta's artists and arts organizations are lagging behind in grant funding, part of the problem has to do with a lack of applications coming from the province. "One of the issues that we identified is that the arts community in Alberta is not applying at the same level as we would see in other provinces," said Chawla. "The No. 1 thing is we want more applications coming from Alberta." She hopes this new initiative will work to reverse the lack of grant awareness. Patti Pon, CEO of Calgary Arts Development, says this new initiative from Chawla's organization should succeed in boosting applications coming out of Alberta. Pon's organization works with the City of Calgary to fund the arts at the municipal level. "We've known for many, many years, there is an inequity in funding to Alberta artists, and in particular, Calgary artists," said Pon, adding she believes this new initiative will be able to reduce the inequity. However, Pon also believes Alberta artists should seek opportunities to involve themselves more in the juries that approve grant cash. She believes the assessors on the juries that consider arts grant applications may be lacking an Alberta perspective. "The most significant factors were the number of applications coming from Alberta and the number of assessors from Alberta on the juries that consider applications," said Pon. "Those two things, in particular, impact us because if you don't have jurors on the jury who know about the work that's happening in the region, it's hard for them to comment about the context that the work is being performed, exhibited, created." Pon believes more Alberta artists should consider using their administrative and leadership skills to get a seat at the funding table and potentially consider becoming grant assessors. 'Artists pay rent, they don't get a discount' She says grant funding not only goes to support an artist's creative process but also their livelihood. "These are Calgarians. Artists pay rent, they don't get a discount," she said.
