Photo by: Neil Zeller
Bird Creatives 2022 |
Year In Review
January 9, 2023 | What's Happening, Events, Calgary, Edmonton 2022 has been an explosive year for Bird Creatives!
Where do we start? With an over 20% increase in our team size, a major brand overhaul, and some of the biggest projects that we’ve worked on to date, Bird Creatives had an incredible 2022!
Project highlights:
In the second year of Calgary’s premier annual winter festival, Chinook Blast faced some major challenges at the beginning of 2022. Canada was still in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic and we were facing another major wave of new cases in the province. Thanks to the flexibility of our partners, we were able to make some key pivots in the festival programming. While the result looked a little different from the initial vision, Chinook Blast 2022 delivered a unique and engaging experience for over 400,000 festival goers.
Bird Creatives had the honour of project managing, on behalf of the local host committee, the 40th Canadian Country Music Awards which arrived in Calgary for the 10th time. Country music is an evolving genre and with Calgary becoming more diverse, both in terms of residents and musicians, we wanted to host Country Music Week and the CCMAs in a way that celebrated both the old and new of the country genre. Once again, we were excited to bring the Off-Country programming to Calgary for a 2nd year as the producer of that initiative.
In the second half of 2022, RISE UP's Downtown Vibrancy Program funded a total of 60 events enlivening Calgary’s core communities with everything from live art demonstrations to film festivals to cultural celebrations. In the same vein, RISE UP also hosted four Saturday parking lot activations featuring outdoor cinema, a car show, DJ sets, drag shows, roving performers, live musical events, food trucks, and a children’s show.
In Winter 2022, West Anthem we were honoured to work alongside Sound Diplomacy, Alberta Music, the National Music Centre, and our other partners, to present the Music Cities Convention in Edmonton and Calgary. Over the summer West Anthem's Downtown Music Vibrancy Relaunch Grant provided up to $5,000 to several venues to present live music in Edmonton’s downtown. West Anthem also presented a panel as part of the CCMA Seminar Series where we heard diverse perspectives from Calgary's music leaders on the future of music.
This year, we had the incredible opportunity to start working on projects in Edmonton, thanks to our team members based in the city. In November, we assisted with the production of the annual Winter Whyte Light Up along with the Old Strathcona Business Association.
Flexing our community engagement wings Bird Creatives, working on behalf of CreativeCITY, hosted seven online workshops with Calgarians from all sectors of Calgary’s creative economy to discuss the proposed strategic pillars for the city’s growing creative economy. We also launched an online survey and drafted reports summarizing and incorporating the feedback of over 500 Calgarians. Watch for those publications in 2023!
The Style Experience 2022
Bird Creatives was stoked to work with Explore Edmonton and Canada Snowboard to activate their Market Village with local vendors and artists at The Style Experience 2022.
To check out all our projects, visit our portfolio.
Key Accomplishments
With an ever-growing team and an explosion of creative projects, we decided that we needed a refreshed brand and website to better reflect our diversity, our values, and our vision. We knew that as a creative consultancy, we could develop a new brand identity internally. Through a careful and collaborative process that spanned a few months, we were able to refresh our logo and brand identity that both pays homage to our founder, but also reflects our company’s bold new vision.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award Nomination
In the fall of 2022, we were honoured to be a finalist for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce’s TD Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award Presented by Pride in Business! An award presented to a small local business that is a leader in advancing the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion not just internally, but in the community. Being a finalist for this award was a true testament to our diverse team and the vibrant nature of Calgary’s creative economy for which we have the honour of working in.
New Birds in the Nest
In 2022, we had the pleasure of welcoming three incredibly talented people to our team!
Samantha Mendoza
Brought on as a practicum student to help out with the execution of the 2022 CCMAs, Samantha, a graphic artist, proved to be incredibly talented in event management. After her practicum was completed, we decided to keep Sam on the team as an Event Consultant.
Amelie Patterson
Spoken word artist and musician by trade, Amelie was brought to the team to also assist with the 2022 CCMAs. With adept experience in the local music industry and a passion for fostering community through art, Amelie stayed on with the team as a valued consultant.
Carley Platt
As the demand for our services in the creative economy grew, we needed a research and policy expert to assist with our goal of developing a research portfolio necessary to advance various areas of the creative economy at the local, provincial and national level. With a passion for collaborative work that leads to meaningful impact and change combined with outstanding credentials in research psychology, Carley is an incredible member of our growing team.
Message from the Bird Creatives Team
We couldn’t deliver our incredible projects without the help of our amazing team! Here are clips from our “birds” talking about what it’s like to work in the nest.
Message from Kaley Beisiegel, Principal Consultant
It’s been an incredible year and we’d like to thank our amazing partners and clients and partners for all the wonderful opportunities.
A big thank you to:
Calgary Arts Development, Tourism Calgary, Chinook Blast, RISE UP Calgary, Beakerhead, West Anthem, Explore Edmonton, Canada Snowboard, Calgary Economic Development, Calgary Hotel Association, National Music Centre, Alberta Music, Casa Mexico, the City of Calgary, Canadian Country Music Association, CityXLab, the Government of Alberta, Old Strathcona Business Association, and Canada's Music Incubator!
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the amazing Bird Creatives team! I am the luckiest girl in the world to work with such an amazing, dedicated and creative team. I learn so much from each and every one of you on the daily. Can’t wait to see what we can achieve together with our clients and partners in 2023!
2023, is set to be our biggest year yet! Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to keep up-to-date on our latest projects.
Let’s see what we can do together!
