Calgary's Gallery Delema

         The city of Calgary is situated beside a spectacular natural landscape the rocky mountains. Despite this the city is lacking one of the most significant symbols of any major urban center. Calgary does not have it's own stand alone nationally recognized art gallery, and from the looks of it it's not going to happen anytime soon. Now this is not to say that Calgary does not have any spaces dedicated to displaying art. On the contrary the city possess many venues for artist, but rather each of these institutions operates as a stand alone.
            Jeffrey Spalding artist and curator, spoke at the University of Lethbridge. He attempted to address some of the major hurdles the city faces in bringing this idea to fruition. The idea of a single gallery representing the province as a whole has long been discussed within the community and city council for years.  Politics, funding, unrealistic expectations and a lack of leadership has ultimately led to no space to date. The cultural stigma that embodies Calgary, for example, the Calgary Stampede is often seen as an attitude that the city needs to separate itself from. Calgary needs to be known for more than one event a year. The city needs to embrace a cultural renaissance and continue to promote and celebrate its diversity, while beginning to grow beyond the stampede and embrace new ideas and forward thinking.
        The major problem is there is not a cohesive idea of what this space should look like or where it should be locate. Some people believe that existing spaces are acceptable, while you have others who believe there should be only a privately endorsed and commissioned space. The issue that often arises with using an existing space is its size. Usually large exhibitions that would attract the general public are often out of reach because of the lack of room. The Glenbow is a perfect example in Calgary of an existing space that is over crowded and does not have the mandate needed to commit to the visual arts. With an existing inventory of thirty thousand artifacts, the capacity to take on any new works is just not there. Another example of using an existing space was the old Telus building, donated to the city as a gift in hopes of cultivating an art gallery. In the end the lack of funding and investment lead to its demise.
         As Jeffrey explained on one of his trips to Europe to the small town of Martha Heroford in Germany. Calgary needs to look no future than this town of sixty five thousand and their gallery space dedicated to the arts. This is a perfect example of the use of an existing space and the ability to breath new life into it, with an addition in nineteen ninety five by Frank Gehry.
       Calgary needs to focus less on the grandiose nature of what this space would potentially look like, and more time collaborating with all members of the community.  In conclusion having a nationally recognized gallery in Calgary would be a wonderful acquisition to the city. When dealing with the arts and the community, you have many different opinions to be addressed. Until they can be focused and used cohesively, they cycle of zero productivity will continue to spiral out of control.