The City of Calgary, with support from Calgary Arts Development, is updating The City’s Civic Arts Policy for the first time since 2004 to better align best practices for arts and culture organizations supporting the arts community in Calgary. 

The Civic Arts Policy provides a foundation that describes the value the arts bring to Calgary, how The City supports the arts, and best practices for the sector. The policy guides all groups and individuals receiving arts funding from The City of Calgary, including the Arts and Culture division at The City, Civic Partners, as well as arts organizations and individuals receiving municipal funding through Civic Partners.

The 2004 version of the policy was the result of two years of consultation and research to improve leadership and communication structures, resourcing and accountability. One result of the 2004 Policy was the creation of Calgary Arts Development as a Civic Partner, to deliver arts granting and programming on behalf of the municipality.

The ideas in the updated policy will draw on the concepts in the existing policy, focusing on clarifying, simplifying and streamlining the content to ensure it aligns with current best practices. The policy is also being updated to better reflect Truth and Reconciliation, anti-racism, equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB) principles.

The updated Civic Arts Policy outlines two main areas that guide municipal investment in the arts sector:

• Commitment statements for The City of Calgary, outlining its proposed commitments to the arts sector.

• Guiding principles for those in the arts sector receiving municipal funding, providing best practices and recommendations.

The Civic Arts Policy does not direct day-to-day funding decisions for individuals or organizations.

The Civic Arts Policy includes reference to six thematic pillars: People, Community, Enable, Equity, Awareness and Data. These pillars help structure the policy’s guiding principles, demonstrating how the updated Policy will continue to support Calgary’s evolving arts and culture landscape.

The next step is turning this policy into action. How can we create meaningful change? What do we need to get there? That’s where the Cultural Plan for Calgary (2026–2035) comes in.

A new 10-year vision for Calgary’s arts and culture will include gathering input from Calgarians, identifying areas for improvement, and prioritizing actions for now, next, and later.

Explore the proposed City commitments and guiding principles that will shape the updated Civic Arts Policy. Engagement is one of several factors that will be considered, alongside research on best practices and other policies.

Scroll through the images below to read summaries of each commitment and guiding principle. If you would like to review the exact wording from the draft policy, please click here.

In this phase, we asked participants to share their thoughts and priorities about the guiding principles for supporting artists, promoting collaboration, championing equity and anti-racism, promoting the arts, and building resiliency. Participants also rated how important these principles are to the arts community.

After each phase of engagement, we will publish a What We Heard report that summarizes the feedback. Please check this page for updates when the report is available.