Calgary Beltline hotel offers space for artists to create

The Residence Inn in the downtown Calgary community of the Beltline is hosting artists, offering them a space to live so they can create new art.

The Artists in Residence Inn (AIRI) program gives artists the opportunity to live in the hotel for months at a time while they work.

AIRI, which is still in its first year, hosts one performing artist and one visual artist per residency.

Their stay culminates in either a concert, performance, or a showcase depending on the artist.

Jared Clark, an R&B artist from Calgary, and one of the two staying at the Inn says the support of the program means a lot to him.

“It was the first sort of experience I had to have an official group collectively say that they believe in me, and they believe in my art,” Clark said. “And that alone propelled me forward in so many ways. Just the symbolic aspect of that, of people believing in you, and believing in your music. It meant the world to me.”

Visual artist Tara Vahab, the other artist taking part in the AIRI program, says the experience gave her access to valuable creative space.

“The space really allowed me to feel that freedom that I really needed to not feel restricted by the amount of space that I have,” Vahab said. “For a visual artist, that’s always an issue, we need space to store materials, we need space to create the artwork. And, without the space, everything is just up in the air.”

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Tim Ostrem, general manager of the hotel, says the artists in the program are able to show their work to the people in the community.

“We truly believe that arts and entertainment are the heart of the Beltline. It is an incredibly important part of downtown Calgary’s revitalization plan, and we really wanted to create something that contributed positively to the development of the arts community, and so AIRI was born,” Ostrem said.

“The performing artist regularly puts on shows either in our lobby for our song writer sessions, or our patio series right now up on our third-floor patio, and those events are open to the entire community.”

Anyone interested can check out @airi_yyc on Instagram for details on when you can check out a performance.