What is it? Spaces and places are quality venues and rehearsal spaces that can meet different needs for performers and musical genres (performing, rehearsing, recording and educating). Also included are outdoor spaces, both purpose built and parks, as well as community spaces or multi-purpose spaces where music is performed or practiced.

What it looks like according to folks we talked to…

A variety of indoor and outdoor spaces are available at different rates, and well-equipped (e.g., community halls, schools, arenas, churches, theatres, parks, restaurants, pubs, patios, and dedicated music venues, etc.)
Spaces are available for various music activities (rehearsal, performing, recording, collaborating, etc.)
Busking programs/licences make more public spaces available to performers
Options for audience members

Keep scrolling for ideas and examples of bringing spaces and places to life in your corner of Alberta.

Not sure where to start? Look for ideas with the colour associated with your role in the music industry:

Ideas

Support access to affordable spaces (public and privately owned) and ensure they are equipped for music activities and events.

Information and Examples

Local Example: Arts Council Wood Buffalo purchased a building in 2022 that will become an arts incubator with spaces for rehearsal and performance (additional article). Additionally, Arts Council has also worked with Suncor Energy Centre for the Performing Arts and Keyano College to utilize their theatre spaces for live music.

Local Example: City of Medicine Hat worked with a private/public partnership to sell the historical Monarch Theatre with the intention of it remaining a unique, cultural hub for the community. (additional article)

Local Example: One participant shared, “Local bars have live music almost every weekend and they see a significant difference in terms of attendance and sales when there is music versus not.”

Info: How Multi-Use Venues Help Small Communities (article)

Info: A List of Alternative Venues, and Why You Should Be Playing Them (article)

Info: PA Speaker Buying Guide (an article to start considering what your spaces may need for sound, please note this is not an endorsement of the company that published the article)

Activate public spaces through outdoor musical performances and busking.

Local Example: Busking and Mobile Vending – Town of Sylvan Lake (notice the handy map to outline where busking is permitted)

Local Example: Buskers in Banff (again a map, conditions, and outlining applicable bylaws)

Local Example: Okotoks hosts an annual BuskerFest—a great way to introduce the public/businesses to a wide variety of local buskers

Info: The Positive Impacts of Busking On Cities (short article on the benefits busking can have in public planning)

Info: Street Performing Low Cost High Impact (article with examples of how busking can be successful, with suggestions about regulation)

Info: Effect of Street Performance (Busking) on the Environmental Perception of Public Space (results of 2 studies supporting the understanding “that street performance could make public space more visitable, more restorative, and more preferable”)

Explore the use of grants to increase music spaces by covering the cost of equipment, the costs of presenting live music in local businesses, or activating underused spaces.

Local Example/Resource: The City of Lethbridge offers the Re-Imagine Downtown Activation Grant supporting businesses, entrepreneurs, organizations, and community-minded individuals

Local Example/Resource: Red Deer’s Community Public Art Grant Program funds collaborative art projects between community groups and/or businesses, artists, and The City of Red Deer

Example/Resource: Arts Presenting Project Funding through the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Use the concept of the “venue ladder” to consider gaps in your local or regional music venues.

Info: See a description of the “Venue Ladder” pages 69–70 in Mastering a Music City.

Info: This recent study from the University of Toronto and Wavelength Music includes descriptions of types of music venues as well as innovative venues models (based on research focusing on Ontario)

Contact

Email: info@westanthem.com

Alberta spans five treaty territories and eight Métis settlements. Like their ancestors, many Indigenous individuals and families make their homes across the prairies, including the Blackfoot Confederacy – Kainai, Piikani, and Siksika – the Cree, Dene, Saulteaux, Nakota Sioux, Stoney Nakoda, and the Tsuu T’ina Nation. The Métis People of Alberta include the Six Regions of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit, both from here and as visitors from elsewhere, have helped care for these lands for generations. We recognize they have traditions and relationships to the land far outstretching the arrival of settlers.

We are extremely grateful for these lands on which we reside, work, and play. We make this acknowledgement as an act of gratitude and reconciliation. While championing the arts in Calgary and across Alberta, we intend for our work to contribute to the valuing of traditional art forms and result in greater opportunity for the creative Indigenous talent who walk these lands today.