Arts and culture incubator cSpace is undergoing a period of transformation that will see the organization grow substantially in what they are able to provide to Calgary’s cultural communities.
The organization, during their annual report to the community on May 21, outlined how recent developments with both their ongoing Space Pilot program and the newly announced acquisition of Firehall No. 1 and the North West Travellers (NWT) Building will shape the next decade for cSpace.
Deeter Schurig, CEO of cSpace, said that now that the Marda Loop Hub at the former King Edward School was fully operational, it was time to begin to develop new sites for artists.
That the space is also 100 per cent leased with more than 30 tenants that hosted 589 events with thousands of attendees, also meant that more permanent arts spaces are needed.
“We’re sending out our tendrils into the city to find new space opportunities for arts and culture,” he said.
“Our Space Pilot initiative is going into commercial, vacant commercial spaces. But ultimately, the workaround Firehall and North West Travellers is about seeding an idea about something much greater. A much greater project that’s about not only creating the conditions for arts and culture and artists, but to be around city building.”
During the presentation, Schurig revealed for the first time renderings of what a new downtown arts hub could possibly look like, turning the plaza and alley space between Firehall No. 1 and the NWT into an atrium, creating a single connected building.
The renderings also showed the creation of a new building next to the Bow Tower to expand the vertical space at the site.
Successful art project leads to new name for cSpace project
Following a successful first event and projected artwork at the site entitled fireWORKS from Tara Beagan and Andy Moro on April 5, a new name for the hub: Fireworks.
“I give Tara Beagan all the credit for that, because the wonderful thing is, or the challenge maybe is how do you frame a project that has a singular identity when it’s made up of multiple things. Fire and works combines both the legacy of the fire hall and its role as that,” Schurig said.
“But also Northwest Travellers was a place of commerce and a place of sales, and, you know, enterprise. The two of those things fused together just gives the whole project an identity.”
Previously, cSpace had activated the Bow River Lumber building in Eau Claire from 2022 to 2024, and has activated multiple former under-utilized downtown commercial sites as part of their Space Pilot program.
Schurig said that the metaphor for cSpace turning places of commerce into art fits because the organization is not just engaged in city building but also sustainable social enterprise.
“It’s about supporting the creative sector in a meaningful way. But we need to be a viable business as well, right? But how we do that and how we leverage it is maybe a little different,” he said.
“The fireworks project has a really interesting ability to pull in both social purpose, the public sector, the private sector, and within creative industries, not just arts and culture users, but also filmmakers and media producers and so forth.”
Incoming board chair for cSpace, John Masters, said that while the construction of Fireworks would be years off, there was an opportunity for the organization.
“That provides us with an opportunity of legacy. I think while we only rent our space on this earth, legacy is extremely important. The opportunity of what we can give back to make this city, continuing to be a great city.”
cSpace is currently soliciting the opinions of Calgarians on the future of the Firehall No. 1 and NWT Building site, through a Google survey available through this link.
