Contemporary Calgary now seeking different home than Centennial Planetarium

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In the following 'Report to the Community' on Sept. 13, Jay Mehr, the board chair of Contemporary Calgary, said negotiations with the City of Calgary to take over the Centennial Planetarium have broken down and the board will be exploring alternative locations.

Dear Friends and Supporters:

I am writing to update you on the progress Contemporary Calgary has made to engage Calgarians with the art of our times through exhibitions, and innovative outreach and educational programs. As an organization with roots firmly planted in our community, we have achieved a great deal since our incorporation in 2014, however challenges still remain.

Our success to date is owed in no small part to the amazing generosity and support we have received from you and our many members, patrons and donors. This report will provide you with a better understanding of where we have come from, and more importantly, our plans for the future. In particular, we felt it important to bring you up to date on our negotiations with the City of Calgary regarding the Centennial Planetarium.

OUR ORIGINS

By way of background, in June 2013, an Expression of Interest (EOI) was put forward by three like-minded contemporary arts organizations in Calgary to form an alliance and develop a centre for modern and contemporary art, with a proposed home at Calgary’s Centennial Planetarium. The Institute of Modern and Contemporary Art (IMCA); the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), and the Art Gallery of Calgary (AGC) aligned resources to provide a thoughtful and disciplined response to the City of Calgary’s Request for Expressions of Interest on this project.

Our EOI, which received widespread community support, addressed the longstanding need for Calgary to develop a dedicated modern and contemporary art centre in our city. The proposal called for a phased-in approach to meet both the required building upgrades and a proposed capital campaign that would elicit support from the public and private sectors.

The submission earned positive approval from the City of Calgary. The three societies, IMCA, MOCA and the AGC, formally amalgamated to become Contemporary Calgary. The proposal under the new Contemporary Calgary banner confirmed our shared vision for a new centre in Calgary dedicated to “providing citizens and visitors to our city with an opportunity to experience modern and contemporary art.”

In April of last year, Calgary City Council approved a resolution to support the rehabilitation of the Centennial Planetarium with funding in the amount of $24.5 million. Later in the year, the Province of Alberta endorsed the City’s plan to transform the Planetarium into a space for modern and contemporary art.

MAKING PROGRESS TOGETHER

I am pleased to report that since amalgamation, Contemporary Calgary has achieved the following benchmarks:

• Provided the City with a $75,000 deposit to meet City requirements;
• At the behest of the City, engaged Lord Cultural Resources to develop a comprehensive business plan for our occupancy of the Centennial Planetarium;
• Successfully eliminated the carried-forward deficit of more than $1.5 million;
• Presented a continuous stream of innovative public programs and exhibitions at our main (Stephen Avenue) and C2 (City Hall) galleries;
• Hosted more than 2300 guests at 3 very successful LOOK fundraising events at the Centennial Planetarium between 2014 and 2016 (the last event recognized by The Globe and Mail as one of Canada’s “Ten Best Parties of the Year”);
• Extended considerable resources both in volunteer time and professional services towards detailed engineering and feasibility planning;
• At the City’s behest, closed our secondary venue at C2 at City Hall, and consolidated our visual arts programming at our Stephen Avenue location;
• Increased public participation in programming by more than 50% since 2016 – and more than double the participation this summer over last;
• Confirmed operating support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts;
• Received our first peer-reviewed project grants from the Canada Council for the Arts;
• Confirmed 3.5 years of operating surpluses;
• Hired professional staff – including a Director/CEO and Chief Curator both with national and international acclaim;
• Raised over $4.75 million from the private sector since our inception towards retiring debt and supporting our annual operating requirements.

WHERE WE ARE NOW

Acting in good faith, over the last three years, our Board attempted to negotiate an agreement with the City of Calgary towards repurposing and occupancy of the Centennial Planetarium.

Following extensive discussions with the City’s Community Services and Arts and Culture Department regarding the development of a long-term lease, Contemporary Calgary entered into sale agreement for our current Stephen Avenue location.

This pending sale was undertaken in anticipation of the City’s proposed move-in date of Q2 2018. Based on our common understanding of next steps, we elected to dispose of this asset with proceeds of the sale to be applied to our capital campaign to support the retrofit for the CP.

• click HERE for a related CBC.ca news report, and
• click HERE for a related GlobalNews.ca report

We were recently informed in a letter from the City of Calgary they were prepared to enter into a short-term lease for partial occupancy of the Centennial Planetarium.

However, they are not prepared at this time to provide necessary assurances with regards to long-term occupancy until we achieve 90% of an estimated $32 million capital campaign. In fairness to our supporters and donors, it is unreasonable for us to embark on a campaign of this magnitude with such slim assurances from the City of Calgary.

At this time, our Board has elected not to pursue further discussions with the City of Calgary regarding the redevelopment of the Centennial Planetarium as a home for our centre. The Board believes that we cannot successfully achieve our mandate and vision in the Centennial Planetarium space under the terms established by the City.

Although this is disappointing, we remain very optimistic about our future, based on our accomplishments to date and the positive and continuing support we have received from our members, patrons and community stakeholders. At its core, the purpose of Contemporary Calgary is to provide modern and contemporary art experiences to Calgarians, and that mandate may be fulfilled in any number of homes.

In keeping with our history of community engagement, we believe it is important to sit down with Calgarians to review our plans and solicit your feedback and ideas.

We are inviting interested Calgarians to join us for a moderated evening discussion with our Board at our Stephen Avenue Gallery on October 10 at 7pm. We will provide further details regarding this meeting in the near future.

I am very proud of the success Contemporary Calgary has enjoyed over the past three years. Ours is a powerful and unprecedented union. Never before has the arts community come together, eagerly joining forces to support a new venue for modern and contemporary art in our city. Our Board, staff, and many stakeholders share a passionate vision for engaging and high quality public arts programming for Calgarians through collaboration and partnerships. We look forward to adding your voice and ideas as part of our broader community engagement program in the weeks ahead.

Once again, our thanks for your continuing support.

Sincerely, 

Jay Mehr

Chair, Board of Directors

Contemporary Calgary Arts Society

Source: Contemporary Calgary