Stride Gallery has been presenting a plethora of artistic practices over the past three decades. More recently, we have been questioning our role as an exhibition space, as contemporary artistic practices continually expand outside of the notion of the gallery, and they can no longer be neatly contained in the white rectangular room. We’ve been developing more meticulous discourse around each exhibition through publications, performances and innovative public programs that are pushing away from the traditional artist talk. In doing so, we figure out what types of conversation and auxiliary programming make sense for each exhibition.
One of our core values lie in having our space truly free and open to the public. With this in mind, we are developing relationships with diverse groups in and around Calgary, whose members do not feel welcomed or entitled to an art space like Stride, due to social, economic, and geographical barriers. Also, as an artist-run centre, we find a tremendous importance in supporting grassroots groups, and to cross-pollinate with different disciplines within our cultural milieu. Extending our hospitality to different groups, we open our doors to host various programming and events that are spearheaded by grassroots organizations. The ongoing and newly budding relationships include Tsuut’ina Nation Youth Programs, Hy Dra Tion Queer Dance Party Collective, Treaty 7 Dyke and Trans March, Uproot YYC, and VOICES Coalition.We have Main Space exhibition located in a storefront at the intersection of Macleod Trail and 10 Ave SE. The main space is dedicated in presenting 8-week exhibitions of local, national and international artists. Our +15 Window space is an offsite, public exhibition space in the form of a window vitrine. You can find it in Arts Commons +15 pedways, along with other galleries and artist-run centres’ spaces in one corridor. This particular space is dedicated to emerging artists in Calgary, facilitated through open calls and studio visits.
Stride Gallery is dedicated to providing mentorship to young, emerging artists who are currently pursuing post secondary education. We deem it absolutely vital to foster the next generation of artists and cultural practitioners. Through our internship programs, we give a programming direction to emerging artists, mentoring them to conduct a project from conception to finish. While they work in a professional environment they gain fruitful insights and confidence to take onto their next step.Currently we are seeking donors to fund specific projects or aspect of exhibitions. We deem it as a tangible way for donors to give and see the result, and if upon their wish, be acknowledged in the specific part of an exhibition production. Some of the things that donors can fund are:
We produce our publications in-house, always reimagining the form and content of each artists’ book. We’ve made zines, small booklets, pamphlets, posters, maze toys, and cassette tape publications. You can check out all of our publications on this page here. We pay highly compatible fees for the contributing writers and artists. It would be quite substantial to get the production cost, including fees, supported through individual donors. We only have a maximum of a $1,000 budget for each publication, which is quite a small sum. Imagine what we could do with a bigger budget…
Our experimental exhibitions often happen because the artists are physically in the space to make the work in a site-specific manner. That means a prolonged stay for artists. It is a cost that is vital to the rigour of an exhibition as consideration of space is crucial. It is often a big portion of an exhibition expense, and it would be another aspect that would benefit from sponsorship.
Instead of doing a straightforward lecture as an artist talk, we tried to make different ways to encourage audience participation and comfortable dialogue. Our artist talks have ranged from mushroom soup cooking show, embroidery workshop, folklore sharing, music listening party to erotica readings. These talks and programs enrich the “static” exhibitions in manyfold ways, through bringing people in, opening conversations and adding new layers of ideas. If you would like to sponsor an artist talk, please contact us!
Of course, even if you are not looking to make a financial contribution, we would love your support in other ways. Please sign up on our email list and come be a part of Stride’s events, and maybe buy a beer!