CreativeCITY
Prosperity through the Creative Economy
Our Perspective
We recognize the significant economic, social, human, and environmental contributions of Calgary’s creative economy. At the same time, we see that it is often underleveraged and overlooked due to a creative ecosystem that is fragmented and inefficient. We are looking to change that!
CreativeCITY is a collaborative effort where we draw from research, community engagement, and creative leadership to develop a living strategy for a vibrant creative economy in Calgary.
CreativeCITY was led by a steering committee of 18 individuals, with support from Calgary Arts Development, Calgary Economic Development, The City of Calgary, RISE UP Calgary, and CityXLab.
Matilda cast, courtesy of Storybook Theatre
Photo Credit: Benjamin Laird
What is the CREATIVE ECONOMY?
The creative economy adopts a lens that looks at creativity across an ecosystem of intersecting job fields, across education, arts, culture and innovation, rather than viewing them in isolation. It maps the interdependence of these as unique drivers of direct and indirect economic outputs.
We use the UK’s National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta) view of the creative economy, which looks at creativity at the occupational level rather than the industry level (see the diagram below).
Ecosystem Report (or shorter Executive Summary)
First shared in 2021, this report takes a comprehensive look at Calgary's creative economy while introducing a proposed framework for developing a municipal level strategy. We did our research, literally!
Reports (to read, to share, to use!)
Having researched the state of the creative economy in Calgary, it was vital to contextualize our findings. Workshops, panel discussions, and a survey were used to obtain feedback from 500+ Calgarians. This document summarizes the process and findings in-depth.
This guidebook is meant to be used in conversations with government, and those looking to grow Calgary’s creative economy. It provides recommendations for actions, policies, and community and industry interventions to support human, environmental, social and economic prosperity through the creative economy.
Continuing the Conversation
We’re pretty serious about this being a living strategy. After you’ve explored the Strategic Guidebook if you’ve got thoughts to share, ideas to brainstorm, kinks to iron out—jump over to this page and leave your thoughts. We’ll keep collecting feedback and update the plan accordingly.