CALGARY- The Calgary City Council and the Calgary Arts Commons have decided to move forward with the Arts Commons Transformation Project (ACT). In a meeting on Oct 9, 2020, members of the city council and Arts Commons came together to finalize plans to proceed with the two-phase project that will help expand the Arts Commons.

The idea of the Transformation Project is to help encourage community involvement and connectivity through programming as well as include accessible design principles and non-discriminatory spaces for people of all ages and backgrounds.

The transformation project has been 16 years in the making with many changes made along the way. When asked in the council meeting about why the project is moving forward now while COVID-19 cases are rising, Calgary Arts Commons president and CEO, Alex Sarian had this to say.  

“While many people might say that now is not the right time, why are we doing this now? I think there actually is no better time to be reimagining the future and investing long term in Calgary’s role in what the arts could look like in a new world.”

Mr. Sarian hopes that when the project is finished that the new space will help break down the perceived barriers to culture and arts participation within the community. He hopes that people will be more open to exploring the arts with the new accessible spaces.

The project will be done in two phases running concurrently.     

Phase One, The Road House, will be a new multi-level facility with flexible performance spaces. The new building will be connected to the existing Art Commons by an above-ground connector bridge.

Phase Two, The Resident House, will offer refurbishments to the existing facility with updated amenities and technology throughout the space to help with accessibility concerns. 

Both the Art Commons Advisory Committee and the City of Calgary are excited to be moving forward with this project and projections for further construction and budget talks are slated to begin in early 2021.