Former Calgary School Becomes Arts Utopia
An exterior view of cSPACE, Calgary's new arts centre, in the former King Edward School
photo courtesy of cSPACE.
cSPACE King Edward in Calgary is billed as an arts incubator. But that’s not quite right – it’s more of an arts utopia. The classically proportioned 1912 sandstone building, a former school where boys in tweed knickerbockers once studied Greek, is now a community-focused, multi-purpose arts centre.
The King Edward School’s first principal was William Aberhart, later Alberta’s seventh premier, and the building has served many functions over the years, including the training of military cadets during the First World War. Closed by the school board in 2001, it languished until cSPACE bought the property for $8 million in 2012 and undertook a thoughtful restoration budgeted at almost $26 million. Funding came from municipal, provincial and federal governments as well as private donations and the sale of a portion of the land to developers.
Architect's rendering of cSPACE showing proposed condominium development and seniors' housing.
Less attractive additions were demolished, and there are now two beautiful wings. One is in the original sandstone building, and the other, in a new glass-plated addition, includes a 125-seat theatre and a conference room with spectacular mountain views.
Four hallways in the former school are now galleries for displaying art
photo courtesy cSPACE.
Four high-ceilinged hallways serve as spaces to display art. The first exhibition, I Am Western, on view until Oct. 1, includes work by leading Alberta and Saskatchewan artists who explore the loss of traditional connections with the land in a province that has become an urban and industrial powerhouse.
Highlights of the show include John Freeman’s photograph of a family farmstead rotting in front of what might best be described as gigantic “Frankenfarms.” Paintings in drab brown by Rosanna Marmont depict animals behind wire fences and men in cowboy hats pushing shopping carts, dreary stuff indeed.
Lyndal Osborne and Sherri Chaba offer a fascinating installation of feathers, tobacco tins, hand-made tools, embroidery hoops, rifle butts and animal pelts that evoke an abandoned homestead. There’s also a photo by Kris Weinmann of a simple wooden chair placed in front of a dilapidated barn that’s close to collapse.
Meanwhile, Indigenous artists Adrian Stimson and Terrance Houle use bison to evoke feelings of cultural loss. For instance, Stimson places a bison head on a blood-red ribbon attached to a bison hide hanging from a meat hook. The animal’s glassy gaze is wistful and forlorn.
cSPACE is open now, although the official celebration won’t be held until the last weekend in September. Many of the school’s original features remain, including two gargantuan doors from the original furnace. Classrooms still have their original wood trim and chalkboards. The building has LEED Gold certification and the environmental upgrades are gracefully integrated into the architecture As Reid Henry, the chief executive of cSPACE, says: “We wanted a beautiful expression of sustainability.”
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A glass floor offers a view of the old boiler room in cSPACE
photo courtesy cSPACE.
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A chalkboard frames the elevator in the repurposed school
photo courtesy cSPACE.
However, cSPACE is not just about the building – it’s also about community, creativity and collaboration. With a mix of studios, arts groups and other non-profit organizations, the goal is to encourage creative pollination. “Festivals become the only time that you see crossovers and collisions,” says Henry. “I want to see that here every day … I didn’t want it to be just an arts enclave.”
Daniel Kirk and Katie Green paint a mural at cSPACE earlier this year
photo courtesy cSPACE.
Tenants include visual artists, photographers, filmmakers, animators, illustrators, clothing designers and jewelry makers. cSPACE is also home to Alliance Française, the Alberta Craft Council, the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association, the Calgary Association of Lifelong Learners, the Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society, Quest Theatre, the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society, the Rozsa Foundation and the Alberta College of Art and Design’s school of continuing education.
Henry hopes to foster innovation and entrepreneurship through partnerships that will help artists navigate new kinds of careers in a changing world. “cSPACE is very interested in shaping, triggering, underpinning and catalyzing a more concerted effort supporting entrepreneurship,” says Henry. “That is going to take as much work over the next couple of years as the building took physically.”
Visitors are welcome to enter classrooms when the doors are open and watch artists as they work. “You can see the creative process unveiled,” says Henry. “It doesn’t have to be the final exhibition. It doesn’t have to be the perfect moment. But it is still a valuable experience.” Visitors can also shop, have a coffee, take in a show, attend a class or rent a hotdesk in a co-working area.
Nestled between Mount Royal, a leafy, genteel neighbourhood, and Marda Loop, which is vibrant and hip, cSPACE embodies the traits of both, seamlessly blending cosmopolitan cool with historic gravitas. Swathes of outdoor space are being groomed into manicured lawns and tree-lined promenades, with pavilions and food trucks or market stalls planned for next summer.
Art, people and community. That’s utopian – right?