If your brain needs a little texture, colour, weirdness or wonder, May’s exhibitions aren’t messing around. This month, Calgary galleries are serving up animated mini-series, handcrafted pottery, process-heavy printmaking, luminous contemporary painting, photographic fragments of everyday life and immersive installations that pull together textiles, sculpture, light and sound.
There are works made from flora, cloth and organic matter; student-created monsters that blur into community storytelling; beaded wall hangings rooted in lived experience; and painterly collages built from joy, memory and care.
In short, a wild mix of exhibitions where every sense collides in mind-boggling ways. 👀⚡️
Get the full lineup of beautiful creativity at the link in our bio - don’t miss out. 🫡
YYC What’s On brings you the best arts, culture, and family events in Calgary EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK.
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#yycwhatson #calgaryevents
EMMEDIA is an important part of Calgary’s media arts community, a space where technology, experimentation, and artistic expression intersect. Over the last several decades, @emmediayyc has supported artists working in media arts, as well as providing access to equipment and studio space.
In our latest Living a Creative Life episode, host Adora steps inside EMMEDIA to explore how the centre continues to evolve as both a media arts gallery and a place for artists to gather and learn. Through conversations with artists that have been impacted by the organization, we see how EMMEDIA functions as a bridge - connecting artists to tools, collaborators, and audiences. ⚙️
From hands-on experimentation to public exhibitions, this episode captures the energy of a place where artists at all stages are supported in pushing their practice forward and shaping the future of media art in Calgary.
Watch the full story of this incredible project at our link in bio. ⚡️🤯
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Living a Creative Life isn’t just a series, it’s a love letter to the thousands of Calgarians turning everyday life into art.
Each episode pulls you inside the minds and studios of creators whose work will leave you rethinking what’s possible.
A film by @sansfuccs
Calgary has always been a city shaped by what happens outside the gallery walls. Murals, monuments, sculptures and installations have quietly woven their way through its streets, forming an open-air collection that belongs to everyone.
Now, we’re launching our first ever Public Art Guide, a digital map that turns the entire city into a museum. Built in collaboration with @builtbyfield , the guide brings hundreds of public artworks into one living, evolving archive, a tool that connects people to the places and stories that define Calgary.
In this powerful new Living a Creative Life episode, we speak with the team behind the public art map and hit the road to experience the city through its art.
What emerges is a portrait of a place in motion: layered, diverse and full of memory.
Watch the full episode and check out the guide at our link in bio. 📍🧭
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Living a Creative Life isn’t just a series, it’s a love letter to the thousands of Calgarians turning everyday life into art.
Each episode pulls you inside the minds and studios of creators whose work will leave you rethinking what’s possible.
A film by @sansfuccs 🎥
We are pleased to share that Calgary-based artist Sumer Singh has been selected to lead the public art design phase for the Northeast LRT Extension Public Art Project.
Part of a major City of Calgary transit expansion, this project integrates public art into the design of a new station plaza at 60 Street and 88 Avenue NE. Singh will develop a site-responsive artwork that reflects the surrounding communities and enhances the experience of future transit users.
Learn more on our website.
#yycArts #yycPublicArt
Art, sound, stories, music - and not a cover charge in sight. You can sit in on a fireside-style artist talk about care, creativity and generations. Drop into a jam session. Hear poets read work that cuts deep. Make tissue paper garden collages. Follow live performances down 17th Ave. Or head into Fish Creek Park and listen to the city in a completely different way. 🎧🍃
There’s jewelry made from old treasures, artworks stitched through childhood and cultural memory, hands-on colour workshops for kids, and a piano duo bringing Ravel and The Beatles into the same conversation.
Basically, your long weekend plans just got better - get your times and RSVPs at our link in bio. 🔥
YYC What’s On brings you the best arts, culture, and family events in Calgary EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK.
Want to get this list first? Follow us ❤️
#yycwhatson #calgaryevents
📢 Mid-career public artists and artist teams are invited to apply for a new public art opportunity at the Belmont Fieldhouse and Library, a growing community hub in south Calgary.
One artist or artist team will be selected to create four large-scale exterior panels integrated into the building’s south-facing exterior, with design development through 2026 and installation planned for summer 2027.
📅 Application deadline: June 24, 2026 at 1:00pm MT
A pre-recorded info session will be available online in early June
Link in bio to learn more and apply.
#yycPublicArt #yycArts
Some places don’t just show art. They hand artists the tools, the space and the entry points to make something ambitious and entirely their own - whether they’re emerging or established. As gallery curator and media artist Mackenzie Bedford puts it, EMMEDIA is a really special spot with an incredible breadth of technical knowledge, but also the anything-goes vibe needed to uplift underground artists.
A rare combination. 🔦💡
Join Adora as she steps inside @emmediayyc to explore how the centre continues to evolve as both a media arts gallery and a place for artists to gather and learn.
Through conversations with artists impacted by the organization, we see how EMMEDIA functions as a bridge - connecting artists to tools, collaborators and audiences in a space where technology, experimentation and artistic expression intersect.
Dive deep into this incredible ecosystem on our LCL Youtube channel at the link in bio. ⚡️🤯
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Living a Creative Life isn’t just a series, it’s a love letter to the thousands of Calgarians turning everyday life into art.
Each episode pulls you inside the minds and studios of creators whose work will leave you rethinking what’s possible.
A film by @sansfuccs
Discover public art in Calgary!
The Calgary Public Art Guide is a free digital resource that invites people to explore a growing number of artworks across the city. The guide connects people to artworks, artist stories and community contexts, making public art more accessible than ever.
Explore Calgary’s public art and submit your own discoveries at calgarypublicartguide.com.
#yycArts #yycPublicArt
Calgary-based artist Mackenzie Brown is the latest artist featured in the Centre City Banner Program (2026–2027).
Her banner artworks, "Nêhiyaw love letters to otôskwanihk (Calgary)", are now on view across four downtown bridges and will remain up for a year.
Through vibrant colour and symbolic imagery, the work reflects connection, care and belonging, grounded in Cree cultural teachings and relationships to the land.
Learn more with the link in bio.
#yycPublicArt #yycArts #DowntownYYC
Calgary was recognized as "Music City of the Year" in the recently announced 2026 Live Music Awards. Thank you to all artists, venues, technicians, audiences and everyone else who helps our city's music industry thrive! 👏
@canadian_live@departurefest
#yycArts #yycMusic
This week’s free arts and culture lineup is built for wandering, watching and accidentally discovering something excellent. Browse handmade goods and vintage finds at a night market, step into exhibition openings full of printmaking, student art and artist-led experiments, or get hands-on with tours, artmaking and film at Contemporary Calgary. 👏
There’s also live theatre, live music, Broadway hits, Napoleon-era money talk and a lunchtime concert you can stumble into downtown.
Basically, leave the house. Your couch will cope.
👉See the full list of free events at the link in our bio.
YYC What’s On brings you the best arts, culture, and family events in Calgary EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK.
Want to get this list first? Follow us ❤️
#yycwhatson #calgaryevents
Classifieds Roundup 📰🗣️
Every couple of weeks, we're highlighting what's new in our free classified listings including summer jobs, artist opportunities, volunteer calls and more!
Browse more classifieds on our website (link in bio).
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