View our Annual Report here.

Arts Commons is the steward of Western Canada’s largest arts centre, the artistic and civic cornerstone of Calgary’s downtown core, and is comprised of six world-class resident companies. By championing inclusion and reconciliation, and increasing the accessibility and reach of the arts in Calgary, we are reimagining the performing arts and ensuring their rightful place at the centre of civic life.

Arts Commons is an inspirational gathering place for all Calgarians and visitors alike.

There are continually expanding ways of conceiving, developing, and delivering ideas that create new forms of artistic expression. The arts demonstrate the boundless creativity humans possess and the inventive ways they find to express themselves. We live our brand in our programming, our partnerships, and in our openness to feedback and input from our community.

We are a space, both physical and metaphorical, that stimulates senses, triggers emotions, challenges assumptions, starts conversations, and opens minds.

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Showcasing and championing a diverse range of music, visual arts, and education programming, as the programming arm of Arts Commons, Arts Commons Presents brings art to everyday life, for the entertainment and enrichment of Calgarians. Presentations are showcased in the distinctive venues within Arts Commons including its theatres, public spaces, galleries, and famous Jack Singer Concert Hall.  Arts Commons Presents looks for opportunities to engage and co-create with the community in meaningful ways that celebrate the cultural diversity of our city and our guests.

Each season features BD&P World Stage, Classic Albums Live, TD Amplify Cabarets, the National Geographic Live speaker series and several special presetnations, which make it possible to bring internationally acclaimed artists and speakers to our city.  Arts Commons Presents also makes possible youth, education, and community programs, concerts, and cultural programming throughout each season.

Arts Commons is proud to showcase highly talented visual and media artists within our gallery spaces. Whether its through our RBC Emerging Visual Artists Program in our Lightbox Studio, Ledge Gallery, +15 and Window Galleries, or media artists from across Canada and through the TD Incubator program, bringing both film and sound art to engage our patrons – both programs deliver a powerful expression of what our community has to offer.

Launched in 2021, TD Incubator program was conceived to fill a need in our community to support interdisciplinary artists – musicians who make their own films, dancers who are blending movement with visual art, actors who are expanding into spoken word poetry – by offering them networking, professional development, mentorship and performance & exhibition opportunities to help them grow and develop their practice.

Arts Commons Education is where your curriculum comes to life using the physical and creative resources of Western Canada’s largest performing arts centre. Through workshops, residencies, in-classroom artist visits, and live performances from Arts Commons Presents, Arts Commons Education has inspired future artists, politicians, scientists, decision-makers, and big thinkers of Calgary.

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Being a City-owned facility, we are consciously accountable to apply resources responsibly, fairly, and in a transparent manner. We offer many opportunities for easy access to our programs through accessible ticketing programs, and our sponsors generously support these efforts.

As a home to resident companies and partners, and as a presenter of arts and arts education programs, Arts Commons is a key contributor to the social, economic, intellectual and cultural life and well-being of Calgarians. As an artistic anchor in the heart of our innovative city, the Centre aspires to fulfill our pledge to the citizens of Calgary through the provision of accessible arts and cultural programming that enhances the quality of life of our citizens.

Donate to Calgary’s Arts Community!

Ticket sales, venue rentals, and other earned income only cover 66% of our operating budget.  Your contribution will help us raise the $4.1 million needed from the community so we can bring you arts experiences that create lasting memories, offer inspired learning opportunities, and invest in artists whose mission, like ours, is to bring the arts to life.

Your support can help us engage every citizen to experience, participate in and experiment with arts and culture.

For additional questions, please contact Fund Development at 403-294-7497 or email at [email protected]. To learn more visit artscommons.ca/donate.