Calgary Public Library patrons will have a new way to check out the arts—quite literally—starting this week.

A new partnership between Contemporary Calgary and the Calgary Public Library has made 105 family passes available to visit the west downtown contemporary art gallery, with five art pass books at each of CPL’s 21 locations and the remainder accessible through Libby.

The goal, said both Contemporary Calgary and CPL, is to further encourage Calgarians to take in the arts.

“This initiative is not just about providing access. It’s about creating a shared community experience. A dialogue between art in the viewers and fostering a sense of belonging and engagement with the arts,” said David Leinster, CEO of Contemporary Calgary.

“These memberships they don’t look like ordinary membership cards. We have designed them as membership guestbooks a concept that invites not only just visitation but also participation.”

The books are designed to have those checking out the passes, to make notes and share their reflections as they’re checking out the artworks.

Leinster said that he hoped the books become art themselves, and a reflection of the wider Calgary community as they filled in.

“[The books are] not your typical membership card, which normally fits in your wallet. But when we were designing the program together, we thought, you know, how the heck are we going to get these membership cards through your automated book system?,” he said.

“So we collaboratively came up with the idea of a guestbook. All of the pages are blank, and it invites people that come to the gallery to share a thought they’ll be prompted with some questions that help us and help them to really think about what they’re seeing.”

Partnership a natural fit between both organizations

Heather Robertson, Director for Service Design and Innovation at the Calgary Public Library, said that the partnership was a natural fit as CPL works to increase access and reducing barriers to information.

“The opportunity here is for us is we have over 750,000 members, we have extensive reach through the community, and this is an opportunity for us to help Calgarians become more aware some of the rich arts and arts and culture experiences we have in the city, and help connect them to that,” Robertson said.

“It’s a win-win for both of us. It’s extending Contemporary Calgary into community, and it’s enriching the library’s resources in our connection points that we’re able to provide.”

Robertson said that there was a hope it also reminded Calgarians that CPL is also a destination for art.

“We do have art in almost all of our library locations, but it’s probably a little hidden gem or a hidden secret. We probably don’t have enough knowledge in community, because most of our library locations have art walls where community groups or committee artists can apply, and talk to their local libraries and get their art displayed in libraries,” she said.

“If this is an opportunity to connect Calgarians into the library, but also to more of the richness of the services and opportunities they have in the community, it’s great.”

The art books and passes will be available to be checked out starting on March 7.