Calgary's National Portrait Gallery Gets Mixed Support

Originally published in FFWD April 17, 2008 by Drew Anderson in City


Some in the visual arts community are cautiously optimistic about the possibility of bringing the Portrait Gallery of Canada to Calgary, but City Council was tight-lipped about the matter heading into a behind-the-scenes meeting on April 14. The federal government had just provided answers to some outstanding city questions and extended the gallery competition deadline for the second time.

Nine cities across Canada were invited to bid on housing the collection, which features photographs, paintings and video art representing the faces of Canada — famous and unknown. The issue for Calgary’s politicians and artists alike is sustainability of funding and the appropriate use of scarce cultural resources.

“It’s an interesting idea, but I think that if the city is going to be looking at providing land for arts organizations, they should be looking at the roots, you know, what’s growing here,” says Melody Jacobson, operations co-ordinator for the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers. “It doesn’t have to be either-or — if it happens in a way that benefits the arts organizations that are in our community here, then I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

Having earlier denied another extension to the competition, the federal government announced on April 7, that the process will remain open until May 16. Public Works and Government Services Canada, the federal department responsible for the bid, also answered outstanding questions the city wanted addressed before proceeding.

Prior to the April 14 meeting, Robert Graham, co-ordinator of strategic projects with the city’s planning department, said there were concerns about the competition. “Which left us in a difficult situation, because we weren’t fully satisfied that we had a full understanding of the documents. Interestingly enough they did, in fact, in some cases amend their documents based on our questions, so obviously our questions were fairly serious.”

Graham was unwilling, however, to disclose which city questions were addressed, noting that some were not made public by the federal government. He did acknowledge there were still some question marks. “They chose not to answer a number of them — a number that the city considered very important.”

The meeting was held behind closed doors, and it is unclear what exactly was up for debate. Ald. Druh Farrell, who represents the downtown ward most likely to house a new gallery, couldn’t elaborate on the nature of the discussions outside of council chambers prior to the meeting.

The arts community is concerned about the inclusion of local flavour, and the assurance that community arts organizations and talent are not overlooked for funding. “Most visual arts organizations in Calgary are stretched for resources and are constantly fighting an uphill battle in terms of being able to financially support their institutions,” says Valerie Cooper, president and CEO of the Art Gallery of Calgary. “So I guess that’s where my caution would come…. If we had the infrastructure and the resources to support it appropriately, then it would be a good move.”

Farrell shares the views of the city’s creative class. “My concern, initially, was that if this was going to be our one grand gesture toward visual arts, that the portrait gallery is not where I would be putting my attention,” she says. “If it was part of a cultural facility, building cultural density, then I would be supportive, and that seems to be the direction that we’re going.”

Although it is not clear whether the question came from Calgary, the amended bid document from the federal government publicly answered a question on mixed-use buildings, stating that: “Stand-alone or mixed-use proposals, including those that contain other cultural users, will be considered.”

On the lips of many city artists and their supporters these days is the need for a contemporary art gallery, a glaring cultural omission in any metropolitan centre. “It will be important to Calgary in the near future to have a collecting modern, contemporary gallery in our city. That is more important, at this time, than the national portrait gallery coming to Calgary,” says Cooper. She is quick to point out, however, that the two are not mutually exclusive. “That’s why I think it would be important that a plan that includes perhaps both… would be a real solid one, because you could build upon those agendas quite nicely,” she concludes.