Calgary Public Art Guide
Calgary Arts Development put the city’s public art into one map-first guide, with self-guided tours and artworks in every city ward.
Visit the live guide- Launched
- 2025
- Coverage
- Artworks in every city ward
- Collection
- City-owned, community, and privately commissioned works
Key takeaways
- Calgary Arts Development brought the city's whole mixed collection (city-owned works, community projects, and privately commissioned pieces) into a single map-first guide, with artworks in every city ward.
- The guide connects to the City of Calgary's open data to keep ward and community information current, while Calgary Arts Development's own team curates the catalog through a simple admin, without a daily need for developers.
- Built by Field designed and built the guide and continues to operate it, so the guide keeps growing as new works are commissioned.
Calgary Arts Development is the city's designated arts development authority, and since 2021, it has stewarded Calgary's public art program. That program spans city-owned pieces from Calgary's Public Art Collection, publicly funded and privately commissioned works, temporary installations, and community-led projects.
The collection was already rich, but there was no single place where a resident, visitor, or passer-by could see what's out there, learn the story behind a piece, or plan a walk around a few of them.
The goal
Calgary Arts Development wanted a guide to serve both casual explorers who want to know what's nearby, as well as art enthusiasts who want detailed descriptions, credits, and filtering by type or theme. Whatever we ended up building, it needed to increase access to public art, credit the artists, and offer new ways to explore Calgary’s creativity and cultural richness.
What we built
The Calgary Public Art Guide opens on an interactive map of the collection, with artworks visible in each of the city's wards. From there, visitors can:
- Browse by location, artwork type, or theme
- Read artwork pages with photos, artist bios, and the story behind each piece
- Follow curated self-guided tours, or build their own
- Contribute their own discoveries to the guide
Behind the scenes, the guide connects to the City of Calgary's open data, so ward and community information stays current. Calgary Arts Development's team curates and enriches the catalog with photos, artist bios, and context through a simple editing workflow, with no developer required for daily content changes.
An ongoing partnership
Built by Field designed and built the guide with an architecture to support long-term growth, and continues to operate it alongside Calgary Arts Development. As artwork is created in the city, it can be captured by the Calgary Arts Development team or submitted by users, allowing the guide to grow alongside the collection over time.