Free This Week
Visual arts dominate this week with amazing events to check out
With concerts and pop-up events, this week has plenty of free chances to get out and about but it’s Calgary’s visual arts community that really shines. Sign up for a workshop or explore an exhibition launch—there’s so many awesome choices.
ProArts Presents Elliot Freedman and Friends
February 5, 2020, 12:10 – 12:50pm
Cathedral Church of the Redeemer (604 1st St. SE)
Free admission
Spend your lunch hour downtown with The Elliot Freedman Group! Their music is harmonically elegant, rhythmically muscular, and is an uncompromisingly adventurous update on the electric jazz of the 1970s.
proartssociety.ca
Red Earth: Africa Opening Reception
February 6, 2020, 5:00 – 9:00pm
cSPACE King Edward (1721 29th Ave. SW)
Free admission
This project began out of Anne Tapler White’s desire to document the everyday life of the African people and to show that we are all bound by common threads. Explore the exhibit at its opening reception this week.
cspacekingedward.com
Below the Peak
February 6, 2020, 5:00 – 9:00pm
cSPACE King Edward (1721 29th Ave. SW)
Free admission
Join Lee Nordbye at the opening of his exhibit. He’ll even be on hand to walk you through visual stories exploring the smooth, soft water, the playful contrast of shadows and light, the tantalizing textures and the mind warping abstract shapes, and the forms of the Canadian Rockies.
facebook.com
Free First Thursday Nights
February 6, 2020, 5:00 – 9:00pm
Glenbow (130 9th Ave. SE)
Free admission
Glenbow is a place for everyone. Thanks to a partnership with Servus Credit Union, this popular free evening at the museum returns for 2020. Committed to expanding the reach and impact of art and culture in our community, be sure to swing by. And although a bunch of new exhibitions aren’t quite open yet, there’s still plenty to explore.
facebook.com
Mandy Stobo Painted These
February 6, 2020, 6:00 – 9:00pm
Village Brewery Taproom (5000 12A St. SE)
Free admission
This two-month long exhibition featuring the works of local artist, Mandy Stobo, and is presented by Village Brewery. Swing by this opening reception to help welcome her back to the space, and to enjoy some art, beer, and friends!
facebook.com
Black History Month Film Festival
February 6, 2020, 7:00 – 8:30pm
Jenkins Theatre, Mount Royal University (4825 Mount Royal Gate SW)
Free admission
This festival features work by Black filmmakers from Calgary, Canada, and across the globe. Don’t miss three nights of free screenings, it all kicks off with Ryan Singh’s Backart, Nauzanin A. Knight’s The Stoic, and Badria Abubaker and Olivia Baychu’s The Colour of our Skin.
samru.ca
Vulgar Mechanics
February 6, 2020, 7:00 – 9:00pm
Shelf Life Books (1302 4th St. SW)
Free admission
Inventing new strategies for survival through the two most basic tools available to the speaker, language and the body, join Shelf Life Books for the launch of K.B. Thors’ debut poetry book, Vulgar Mechanics. The guest reader for the evening is Jenna Butler.
facebook.com
Bring the Baby Art Tour & Tummy Time
February 7, 2020, 12:00 – 1:00pm
Esker Foundation (1011 9th Ave. SE)
Free admission, registration recommended
Tummy time centres around an interactive artwork created especially for babies by artist Yvonne Mullock. This extraordinary sensory blanket will be out in the gallery for the babies to explore and enjoy following a tot-friendly exhibition tour of Katie Ohe’s incredible work.
eventbrite.ca
Artist Talk with Anna Gustafson
February 7, 2020, 6:30 – 7:30pm
Esker Foundation (1011 9th Ave. SE)
Free admission, registration recommended
Shining a light on habitat loss and environmental destruction, join Anna Gustafson for an artist talk as she shares insights into her ongoing project Object Lessons and her creative practice as a whole.
eventbrite.ca
Centre Street Orchestra Mid-Winter Concert
February 7, 2020, 7:30pm
Centre Street Church (3900 32nd St. NE)
Free admission
The Centre Street Orchestra, along with the New West Symphony & Chorus, Harmony through Harmony, and the CORE Choir of Calgary, presents a variety of orchestral and choral music to inspire joy, encouragement, and hope.
cschurch.ca
We Heart Publishing
February 8, 2020, 10:30 – 11:30am
Loft 112 (112, 535 8th Ave. SE)
Free admission, registration required
How and why are we still printing magazines? Let’s discuss. Käthe Lemon, Editor-in-Chief of Avenue Magazine, leads this panel discussion and coffee talk that navigates this and many other questions around the up-hill challenge that is print publishing creative content in Canada.
eventbrite.ca
Opening Reception & Artist Talk
February 8, 2020, 1:00 – 4:00pm
Christine Klassen Gallery (200, 321 50th Ave. SE)
Free admission
With two new shows highlighting contemporary photography, explore Ben Cope’s sculptural, hands on approach in BLANC next to Julya Hajnoczky’s mesmerizing imagery in at the last judgement we will all be trees.
christineklassengallery.com
NeWest Press Author Reading Event
February 10, 2020, 6:00pm
Indigo CrossIron Mills (261055 Crossiron Blvd., Rocky View)
Free admission
Join NeWest Press and local authors Randy Nikkel Schroeder, Theanna Bischoff, Lauralyn Chow, and Niall Howell for an evening of readings and chats! The event is free for everybody so be sure to swing by and check it out.
facebook.com
Black History Month Film Festival
February 11, 2020, 7:00 – 8:30pm
Jenkins Theatre, Mount Royal University (4825 Mount Royal Gate SW)
Free admission
Featuring work by Black filmmakers from Calgary, Canada, and across the globe, this film festival continues with screenings of Ryan Singh’s Mom, Melanee Murray-Hunt’s The Trial of Miss Mudimbe, and Rogers Ofime’s Bridges.
samru.ca
