Visual arts & new media

On September 29, 2022, we marked the 50th Anniversary of the AFA Art Collection. As part of the celebrations, we are sharing snippets from the history of the collection. Learn more about the celebrations! 

By Gail Lint and Kristin Stoesz, Art Collections Consultants

From High Level in the North, to the Milk River in the South, and virtually everywhere in between, the AFA's Travelling Exhibition Program (TREX) works to bring Albertan art to all corners of the province, one crate at a time.

False start?

In the early days of the program (1972), the Department of Youth, Culture, and Recreation offered travelling exhibitions to Albertan communities with the intent of developing the visual arts in Alberta. The program ended around the same time the Edmonton Art Gallery (now the Art Gallery of Alberta) began offering regional exhibitions.

The gallery initially circulated exhibitions to northern Alberta but later they expanded the program through the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG) to other parts of the province.  Facing budget cuts in the mid 1980s, the Edmonton Art Gallery terminated the travelling exhibition program in favour of its in-house programs.

Opportunity knocks

Image from 1985-1986 Alberta Art Foundation (AAF) Annual Report

Seeing an opportunity to resurrect the travelling exhibition program in 1980, the Alberta Art Foundation (AAF) developed a “Caravan Exhibition Program” to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the province.

• the AAF was one of three government foundations that were amalgamated to form the AFA in 1991

There were four exhibitions developed, one featuring works from the AAF's collection and three using works from other public and private collections. Exhibitions were showcased in refurbished truck trailer “galleries” and were circulated by the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. 

When the year of celebration finished, the AAF opted to continue circulating the exhibitions while developing new exhibitions using its art collection. 

Image from 1979-1980 AAF Annual Report

Rocky road

In 1987, due to budget and staff reductions, the AAF decided to contract the program out to galleries, allowing an expansion of the types of exhibitions offered to communities. 

The TREX Program format as it operates today started with the Edmonton Art Gallery creating exhibitions and coordinating the program, and the Prairie Art Gallery, the Muttart Gallery (later to become the Art Gallery of Calgary), and the Southern Alberta Art Gallery contracted to create exhibitions.

Unfortunately, the first attempts to coordinate were rocky. Extended periods between staff appointments, delays in exhibition development, and problems with the regional exchange of exhibitions left the program in limbo.

Image from 1987-1988 AAF Annual Report

Renewal

With the TREX contract up for renewal in 1995, the newly formed Alberta Foundation for the Arts revamped the program and took on the role of provincial coordinator.

In 1997 a call for tenders was sent to all public and institutional galleries as well as all provincial visual arts organizations. The proposals were reviewed by the AFA’s Art Collections Committee with the assistance of an independent consultant. 

The Board approved four, three-year contracts to the Prairie Art Gallery in Zone 1, Harcourt House Art Centre in Zone 2, The Art Gallery of Calgary in Zone 3 and the Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery in Zone 4. 

Beginning in 1998, Metro Media (Metro Cinema) was contracted to offer a provincial touring program of Alberta media arts. This later developed into the Prairie Tales film series until the media arts program was transferred out of TREX in 2014.

Image from 1979-1980 AAF Annual Report

Modern TREX

In 2000, a call for tenders was again released to the public and the contract for TREX  Zone 1 was awarded to the Prairie Art Gallery (now the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie), Zone 2 was awarded to the Edmonton Art Gallery (now the Art Gallery of Alberta), Zone 3 to the Art Gallery of Calgary (now Contemporary Calgary), and Zone 4 to the Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery (now the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre). 

In January of 2002, the Art Gallery of Calgary requested that they be released from the balance of their contract, as its board felt that the program no longer fit into their gallery’s mandate. Based on the jury recommendations from the last call for tenders, the AFA offered the Alberta Society of Artists the opportunity to take over the balance of the contract for Zone 3.

These four regional organizations continue to coordinate the program to this day:

• The Art Gallery of Grande Prairie - Northwest Alberta
• Art Gallery of Alberta - Northeast and North Central Alberta
• Alberta Society of Artists - Southwest Alberta
• Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre - Southeast Alberta

2016 TREX Art Exhibit Opening: Dreaming With My 'Great Mother'... from Region 2, Art Gallery of Alberta

50th Anniversary exhibitions

The AFA is pleased to have worked with its Travelling Exhibitions (TREX) partners to support the curation of special 50th Anniversary themed exhibitions, which will tour across Alberta until 2025.

• TREX Southwest (Alberta Society of Artists) – “Montageries”
• TREX Southeast (Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre) – “Party On!”

Find out whether an AFA Travelling Exhibition is in your community by connecting with our regional TREX providers. 

Looking forward

Having toured the province for decades in its many incarnations, TREX has become an integral part of the culture of the province. The AFA  continues to facilitate growth and change in TREX to respond to the needs of our communities.

We have art and will travel, who knows where we will go next!

See how the AFA cares for an exquisite new acquisition by Métis Cree visual artist, Sharon Rose Kootenay, and the different steps we take to document, catalogue and preserve her work for the benefit of all Albertans.

The artworks in the AFA Art Collection mean so much to the artists, to the staff that work with them, and to the many, many Albertans who have an opportunity to view them through exhibitions, art placement programs, or even online in our Virtual Museum.

Watch:

50th Anniversary of the AFA Art Collection

Established in 1972, the AFA Art Collection is a unique representation of the history, development and achievements of Alberta's visual arts community. Today, the AFA is proud to manage one of the strongest, most active provincial art collections in Canada.

On September 29, 2022, the AFA began celebration for the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of the AFA Art Collection. Learn more about how we are celebrating throughout 2022 and 2023.

We are proud to diligently care and work with each of our more than 9,000 artworks in Alberta's public art collection. This is the second episode of a five-part series about the AFA Art Collection.

• Watch episode 1 of the series, Building a Collection, on YouTube

Videos produced by Hidden Story Productions.

To celebrate 25 years of the AFA, we’re taking a look back at how we came to be, favourite milestones, and some of the amazing artists we’ve encountered along the way. 

By Erin McDonald, Manager, Art Collections

National Gallery of Canada via Wikimedia Commons

For many Canadian visual artists, having works exhibited in public galleries is a significant achievement – an affirmation of their artistic vision, public recognition, and a door to more opportunity. Thus, a solo retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) may well represent the peak of a period of an artist’s career. For two Albertan artists, this is certainly true.

Calgary-based Chris Cran and Cold Lake’s Alex Janvier each have noteworthy, full-career retrospective shows coming up at the NGC, Canada’s premiere public collection of historic and contemporary visual art.

More important than the simple fact that two Alberta artists are being recognized is the fact that they are the first Alberta contemporary artist and the first Alberta aboriginal artist to receive solo retrospective exhibitions in the Gallery’s nearly 140 year history. Artworks from the AFA’s Art Collection are some of the featured treasures within both shows.

In the national collection that houses significant and notable works by legends including Dali, Rembrandt, Rodin and Canada’s own Thomson and Colville, Cran and Janvier take centre stage and shine brightly as two of Alberta’s most talented artists.

Sincerely Yours

The exhibition title is as tongue-in-cheek as most of Cran’s original artwork; his playful, humorous and inventive takes on still life, portraiture, landscape and abstraction. His work is known for “challenging perception and understanding of major movements such as Pop Art, Op Art, Modernist Abstraction and Photorealism. Cran playfully combines art history with imagery borrowed from popular culture.” (via the National Gallery)

Curated collaboratively between the Art Gallery of Alberta and the NGC, the exhibition wowed audiences in Edmonton in the fall of 2015, and then travelled to Ottawa for a May 2016 opening. The retrospective, on display until Labour Day 2016, is the most comprehensive exhibition on Cran ever produced. It spans 40 years and 100 artworks: 4 belonging to the AFA art collection, including the quirky portrait Family from The Self Portrait Series.

1988.052.001 Chris Cran Family, 1987, oil on canvas, AFA Collection

Cran has continued to explore the very nature of painting itself, through his varied series’ of work, incorporating digital technology, abstraction and many layers of meaning. In The Metaphysics of Admiration, Cran incorporates homage to the pixelated pop art of Lichtenstein, the frame from his own Framing Device Paintings, and a perhaps as nod to both his early self-portrait series and his own self-awareness: his own image is reflected in the mirror.

2003.036.001 Chris Cran, The Metaphysics of Admiration, 2002, oil, acrylic on canvas, AFA collection

Alex Janvier

A founding member of the original “Indian Group of Seven”, Alex Janvier is known as one of Alberta’s most significant artists. As both a visual artist and advocate, Janvier introduced contemporary aboriginal art to the Canadian art world in the 1970s.

A survivor of the Blue Quill Residential Indian School, Janvier is both prolific and poignant. Janvier created for himself a unique style, featuring clear influences of modernist abstraction merged with the rich cultural and spiritual traditions from his indigenous heritage. Janvier’s work is easily identified.

1975.014.001 Alex Janvier The Sky Begins, 1974 acrylic on canvas, AFA Collection

As an artist, Janvier has had a long and very successful career, including his role as an in-demand artist for high-profile public art commissions. From his very first public art commission at the Muttart Conservatory in Edmonton, to his 450m² masterpiece entitled Morning Star in the dome of the Grand Hall of the Canadian Museum of History, Janvier is treasured for his distinctive curved lines and use of bright, and often symbolic, colour. To his name, Janvier has seven public murals across the country, including Iron Foot Place, a nearly 14m diameter circular mosaic to be set in the floor of the Winter Garden for the new Rogers Place (Edmonton).

Admitted to the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 1992, Janvier is a true pioneer for aboriginal artists in Canada. He paved the way for generations of indigenous artists by breaking down barriers and eschewing stereotypes of what it means to be aboriginal and an abstract painter. Throughout his career, he has made significant contributions to Indigenous visual culture: as an art instructor, a cultural adviser, and as a member of the Indian Group of Seven.

Following three major retrospectives of indigenous Canadian artists, Norval Morrisseau (2006), Daphne Odjig (2009), and Carl Beam (2010), Alex Janvier’s work will take centre stage in the National Gallery of Canada in late 2016. The exhibition brings together more than 75 of Janvier’s most impressive works from early in his career in the 1960s to present. Celebrating Janvier’s unique approach, works on paper, canvas, and linen will show off his range of elegant abstractions.

 A total of nine artworks from the AFA collection holdings are being prepared for transport to Ottawa for the show. These include some of Janvier’s most well-executed abstract works, along with one of his most representational works, Apple Factory (1989). Apple Factory is a stark and poignant statement on the effect of residential schools on generations of indigenous children in Canada.

1989.123.001 Alex Janvier Apple Factory, 1989 acrylic on canvas, AFA Collection

The AFA is proud to support many Alberta visual artists by lending our holdings to other institutions; in 2016 we are committed to at least fourteen exhibitions with our partners, including the National Gallery. 

To celebrate 25 years of the AFA, we’re taking a look back at how we came to be, favourite milestones, and some of the amazing artists we’ve encountered along the way.  

By David Folk, Visual Arts Development Consultant

In the past 25 years, there has been significant expansion in the overall visual arts community in Alberta. Here’ we’ve collected some highlights of the ever-changing organism that is visual arts in Alberta.

Most notably, major institutions like the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) in Edmonton and the Esker Foundation in Calgary have become centres of attraction. There has also been significant growth in artist-run institutions such as the creation of new exhibition spaces such as TRUCK gallery (Calgary) and Latitude 53 (Edmonton).

Art Gallery of Alberta (via Edmonton Attractions)

The growth of these types of spaces is indicative of a larger ideological shift in the sector over the past 25 years, as we see the artistic infrastructure reaching out and engaging with the community in new and unique ways. Artists recognize the need to diversify and expand through different types of programming in order to foster new audiences and remain relevant. Galleries are no longer content to just present work, but seek to actively engage with the larger public.

Even the way that individual artists choose to exhibit their work has drastically changed. In the past, many artists often felt forced to find their audience within one of the commercial, public, or artist-run communities. More recently, there is a greater likelihood that we can see the same artists exhibiting in both public and commercial galleries. This suggests there may be fewer barriers in place to predetermine artists’ points of access. Even the newest trend of pop-up exhibitions is indicative of the ways that artists are expanding their reach, and are no longer content with traditional methods to exhibit their work.

The popularity of recent public art festivals reflects a new emphasis on engaging with the community. The success of Nuit Blanche in Calgary and Edmonton—with the program rolling out into smaller regional centres like Red Deer—demonstrates the public’s willingness to engage with the arts.

Calgary Poet Laureate Micheline Maylor conducting a reading during a Pop-Up Poetry Event in Calgary (via Calgary Arts Development Pop up Poetry page)

While many municipalities have displays of public art and art purchasing programs, the City of Calgary Public Art Program was designed to recognize the role the arts play in our community. The program’s strategic direction provides dedicated resources to purchasing and providing access to public art, and acknowledges that an investment in the cultural life of a city enhances the daily lives of its citizens. This philosophy is even more evident through the adoption of the “Living a Creative Life” initiative as implemented through Calgary Arts Development and intended to promote the wholesale integration of the arts into everyday lives.

These tenets are also being seen in the development and creation of live/work spaces that focus on the creative community. In Calgary, cSPACE has taken over the old King Edward School to build a dedicated facility designed to foster community and provide much-needed resources for artists. In Edmonton, ArtsHab is taking on similar activities, all with the vision of integrating artistic practices into daily living.

Smaller Albertan centres have also expanded their vision to build connections with community. The Esplanade in Medicine Hat and CASA in Lethbridge are both good examples of how community engagement is a key part of the mandates for groups and organizations dedicated to building cultural life.

Sandra Bromely's piece,  It's About Time, on the Capital Arts Building in Edmonton

To commemorate the opening of the new home of the AFA Art Collection–the Capital Arts building in Edmonton–and in recognition of the 2005 Alberta Centennial, the AFA launched the Centennial commission project. The commission was awarded by the AFA in partnership with The Works Visual Arts Society to Edmonton artist Sandra Bromley. Her proposal: to create a laminated glass and photographic mural incorporating one hundred images of Albertans “documented” over the course of Alberta’s history. Her work It’s About Time adorns the south east corner of the Capital Arts building, and welcomes our guests daily. Read more about this piece in our AFA25 post It’s About Time.

In 2015, the AFA launched its formal Public Art Commission Program as an annual project awarded to Alberta non-profit organizations to create original public art. The completed projects are site specific, and the artworks become part of the permanent AFA art collection. In April 2016, the AFA was pleased to announce two successful commission projects from the first application cycle: cSPACE Calgary and Arts Council Wood Buffalo. These two projects will bring public art to exciting and creative spaces around our province, including the King Edward School (Calgary) and the Redpoll Centre (Fort McMurray).

With all these milestones and expansions, we wonder: What will Albertan visual artists explore next?

To celebrate 25 years of the AFA, we’re taking a look back at how we came to be, favourite milestones, and some of the amazing artists we’ve encountered along the way. 

By Gail Lint, Art Collections Consultant

October 1^st, 2016 will celebrate the second year of the AFA Public Art Commission Program. The program is designed to assist not-for-profit organizations to administer and commission site specific public art projects. The final artwork becomes part of the AFA collection and is installed on long-term loan with the organization. The artwork is readily accessible and enhances public space often evolving into a community landmark.

Although the program has only been in existence for the past 2 years art commissions are not a new form of acquisition for the AFA collection. The new Public Art Commission Program evolved from past partnerships with other art organizations in the province.

It really began in 2007 in the beautiful Rocky Mountains with the Banff Centre in partnership with the AFA to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the creation of the Banff Centre. Both institutions provided funding to commission an artwork for the AFA collection which remains on public display on the grounds of the Centre. The commission process involved an invitational competition of 6 Alberta artists reviewed through a peer jury process.

Mark Clintberg was awarded the commission for the outdoor installation Meet Me in the Woods, 2010.  Read a descriptor of the artwork:

Mark Clintberg, Meet Me in the Woods, 2010, polyurethane paint, reflective vinyl on aluminium

Mark Clintberg, Meet Me in the Woods, 2010, polyurethane paint, reflective vinyl on aluminium

Mark Clintberg, Meet Me in the Woods, 2010, (reverse of the signage for Meet Me in the Woods)

The next art commission partnership takes us to the southeast corner of the province to the “Hat”. The commission partnership with the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre in Medicine Hat began in 2009 with an invitational competition sent to 5 Alberta artists seeking an installation to grace the grounds of the front entrance of the newly constructed Esplanade.

The commission was awarded to Calgary based artist Blake Senini for his sculpture Turn, Turn, Turn (A Resting Place) which was unveiled to the public October 1^st, 2011 coinciding with the 4^th Alberta Arts Days celebrations (now Alberta Culture Days).

From the artist’s statement on the artwork:

“Turn Turn Turn

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant and time to pluck up that which is planted….

Pete Seeger’s 1959 song sums up this sculpture’s underlying themes: a series of contrasts that provoke different, even opposing interpretations. The wing forms are derived from the wings of an arctic tern enlarged to human scale. Their arrangement spirals upward yet remains grounded to the earth and resembles other structures familiar to southeastern Alberta such as haystacks, wood fires, teepees and mountains.

Turn Turn Turn is a place to relax and contemplate the thoughts that it may evoke in the visitor; a place to sit and watch events, both natural and of the human kind, a resting place.”

Blake Senini

Blake Senini, Turn Turn Turn (A Resting Place), 2011, aluminium and concrete

During the same time frame as the development of the Esplanade commission project there were two other AFA commissions in the making. We now find ourselves in the Southern (Calgary) and Northern (Edmonton) Jubilee Auditoria built in 1955 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the province. Through a partnership with Alberta Jubilee Auditoria Society (AJAS) and the AFA two new artworks were commissioned for the AFA collection. The commission was an invitational call to 20 artists for an artwork for each of the buildings to be installed on the grand staircase leading from the main floor to the 1^st balcony. Commissions were awarded to Canmore artist and sculptor Tony Bloom for the Northern Jubilee (NAJA) and Edmonton based artist and printmaker Liz Ingram for the Southern Jubilee (SAJA) – that’s right the south journeyed north and the north travelled south!!

Tony Bloom’s wall mounted sculpture Fanfare “echoes the fan shape of Greek amphitheaters with a structural surface that represents the language used in theatre: music scores, lyrics, dance notation, lighting, “plots”, scripts, stage directions etc.”

Tony Bloom, Fanfare, 2011, copper, bronze, silver, stainless steel

Liz Ingram’s Confluence Through the Looking Glass is an ambitious printed installation and monumental wall piece that incorporates the human figure in motion and the elements of water and sky at different times of day. The artist states: “The beauty of the human body in motion and the portrayal of dancers in action relate directly to activities that often occur on the stages of the Jubliee. The background images of the atmosphere, clouds, sky and water relate to our environment and are developed from the space we inhabit in Alberta.”

Liz Ingram, Confluence Through the Looking Glass, 2011, dye sublimation digital prints, polyester, tempered glass, techno graphic interlayer polyester, aluminium, steel 

Both of these artworks are on public display in the Jubilee Auditoria and if you have not had an opportunity to experience them either attend an event or visit the buildings during the daytime, introduce yourself to the security guard and enrich your day with some amazing Alberta public art.

Other commissioned AFA artworks that have been produced in partnership with public art facilities include Hunting Blind 2011, a collaborative installation by Robin Arsenault and Paul Jackson installed on the outdoor terrace of the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton;

Robin Arsenault and Paul Jackson, Hunting Blind, 2011, mixed media

Acclaimed and internationally celebrated artist David Hoffos’ new media installation installed for external viewing at the new CASA community art facility in Lethbridge;

David Hoffos, The People in the Window, 2014, 3 channel video & mixed media installation

The Art Gallery of Grande Prairie in celebration of their new world class facility has recently installed an outdoor night viewing projection, also by artist David Hoffos entitled Night School, 2011-2015 commissioned through a partnership with the AFA.

The new downtown Centre for Arts and Communication located at MacEwan University (which replaced the west end campus) unveiled a major commission by Edmonton-based artist and MacEwan alumni, Brenda Draney in 2017.

So keep your eyes open for public art next time you are out and about in Alberta…it has been created for your enjoyment!

Before any AFA artwork is sent out for an exhibition or loan, it is thoroughly assessed to make sure it is in good condition—and that includes ensuring the artwork is clean.

So what does it take to get an artwork in show-worthy shape? A little elbow grease, distilled water and a vacuum!

Art Collections Manager Erin McDonald shows us how to go about cleaning an artwork—in this case, it’s Arlene Stamp’s Nova, which is going to the Glenbow for an upcoming exhibition. Nova is comprised of vinyl tile (the kind you’d find on kitchen floors), and the medium determines what cleaning technique will be best.

First, Erin removes any surface dust using a hand-held, manual air blower to lift the dust from the surface, followed by a light vacuuming.

The next step is to apply a cleaning agent. The least invasive cleaning agent is always the first choice; in this case, it's starting with distilled water. Very carefully, Erin applies the cleaner to the surface of the artwork and wipes it using a fine, microfiber cloth.   

Erin will not use a spray bottle to apply the water, as she doesn’t want to oversaturate the artwork and have water seep into the wood support of the artwork.

Erin will repeat this process, square by square, until finished—which will take approximately eight hours.

See more of Arlene Stamp’s artwork in the AFA collection.

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts is pleased to be a funding partner in this collaboration with Stone-Olafson and other community leaders to develop a long-term research investigation and evaluate how current conditions will reshape Albertans’ attitudes and behaviours towards social and group activities, across a variety of sectors. The purpose of this work is to give leaders of community sports, recreation, arts and culture, professional sports, active living, heritage, tourism or hospitality sectors relevant facts about local audiences that they will need to bring life back to our communities.

The initiative is being funded by: 

• ActiveCITY Collective
• Alberta Foundation for the Arts 
• Angus Reid
• ATB
• Calgary Arts Development 
• Calgary Foundation
• Edmonton Arts Council
• Edmonton Community Foundation
• Rozsa Foundation
• Stone-Olafson
• Travel Alberta

​This research is being conducted in six waves over the course of the next year. This is a community resource that is FREE to access and results from the second wave of research are now available. The second wave of research builds on the baseline established in May and June by delving into attitudes on comfort, spending, the impact of media, and audience expectations.

Findings and implications for Alberta organizations through Wave 2 results include:

• Support for the pace of re-opening grows but there are still lingering pockets of disagreement.
• Comfort levels are creating a new baseline of engagement.
• Increasing gaps are appearing between audience segments on the pandemic.
• As restrictions lift, Albertans are pulled by their social motivations and perceptions of safety outdoors.
• Engagement is (potentially) perishable.
• Staying connected will mean the development of innovative and hybrid experiences.
• In a crowded media space, audiences are still listening.
• Spending is obviously being impacted

The report makes the following recommendations for organizations:

• Comfort levels are not rebounding just because restrictions are lifting. Organizations need to temper expectations about reconnecting with audiences. You will not be reengaging them in the same you used to. It will take time and it will look different. Plan on it and prepare.
• Getting audiences comfortable enough to attend is vital. Some of this will rebound over time, and some will be addressed by government, but there are opportunities to build confidence in what you are doing to safeguard their health. Show the steps you are taking and the tools being employed to protect audiences. Building confidence with what you are doing will help increase comfort and, in turn, consideration.
• Audiences and markets are changing. There are new barriers to address and consider. Organizations will need to understand shifting mindsets of different target audiences in order to engage effectively. This could be a deep opportunity to engage for many organizations who can capitalize on their motivations and expectations.
• Find your voice. Audiences are listening closely for news around the pandemic and are eager for updates, information or promotions. They want to know when experiences will be available again and are receptive to traditional marketing messages again. In fact, they expect it.
• Adapting means developing new product and experiences to consume. Staying put or offering what you used to won’t necessarily work. Organizations that can move into hybrid offers (not simply digital alone or in-person alone) that still leverage intrinsic motivations will be well positioned to protect their revenue from competition.

Download the reports:

• Alberta Report
• Calgary Report
• Edmonton Report

You can subscribe to receive notifications when the new reports are available by visiting stone-olafson.com. 

This research is being conducted in six waves over the course of the next year. This is a community resource that is FREE to access and results from the fourth wave of research are now available. 

Findings for Alberta organizations from Wave 4 results include:

• Public perceptions reflect the low point of the pandemic at this time.
• Albertans are adapting to and following the rules.
• Change in habits during the pandemic appears to be additive, not alternative
• Contexts frame marketing in this environment - messages will need to be shifted, media strategies evaluated, and some types of voices changed.
• Engagement is on hold.
• Travel within the province is an option. 

What are the implications for Alberta organizations?

• When conditions permit, recognize you will be reconnecting with a weary population who are more anxious than before. Messages and offers will need to adjust to reflect this reality.
• As Albertans accept and get used to the restrictions, they expect others to follow them too. A large percentage of those surveyed indicate others not following protocols will dissuade them from attending events/participating in activities. The same applies for not seeing sufficient safeguards in place.
• As restrictions start to lift, Albertans are likely to start figuring out how to balance a new set of activities they enjoy with their usual activities they want to get back to. And for organizations, that means breaking through a larger competitive set to capture the attention of their audiences. For those that offer registered or directed experiences this may be an even bigger challenge now that people are also adding in more self-directed experiences.
• Organizations are likely going to need a multi-layered media strategy that can reach influencers who can help propel the message. To be clear, an influencer strategy doesn’t mean a pure social media strategy. It means a strategy of messages and media that are repeatable to others.
• Organizations have to be prepared to re-engage in stages. When current restrictions lift there will be some appetite to explore and potential opportunities to meet them online or outdoors. In a post-pandemic environment, audiences are very likely to get active again.
• Focusing on broad messages that reflect a drive to escape everyday stresses and deliver on social motivations will work well to help motivate intra-provincial travel. Reinforcing these main messages with reassurances about flexibility in booking and safety will also be helpful to finalize a decision.

Download the reports:

• Alberta Report
• Calgary Report 
• Edmonton Report

You can subscribe to receive notifications when the new reports are available by visiting stone-olafson.com. 

About the project

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts is pleased to be a funding partner in this collaboration with Stone-Olafson and other community leaders to develop a long-term research investigation and evaluate how current conditions will reshape Albertans’ attitudes and behaviours towards social and group activities, across a variety of sectors. The purpose of this work is to give leaders of community sports, recreation, arts and culture, professional sports, active living, heritage, tourism or hospitality sectors relevant facts about local audiences that they will need to bring life back to our communities.

The initiative is being funded by: 

• ActiveCITY Collective
• Alberta Foundation for the Arts 
• Angus Reid
• ATB
• Calgary Arts Development 
• Calgary Foundation
• Edmonton Arts Council
• Edmonton Community Foundation
• Rozsa Foundation
• Stone-Olafson
• Travel Alberta