Calgary calls on artists to apply for Winter Design Competition

The City of Calgary is inviting designers, artists, and post-secondary students to add their touch to its second annual Winter City Design Competition.

The competition will take place alongside Stephen Avenue and the Beltline. Contestants can use their creativity to add life to Calgary’s winter and entertain Calgarians and visitors.

We know it's coming & to help prepare for winter, we’ve launched the 2nd edition of our Winter City Design Competition.

We’re asking students, designers & artists to help us transform #downtownyyc with public space designs & experiments that work with our climate.

Learn more

— City of Calgary (@cityofcalgary) September 23, 2022

“Calgary is a winter city and we should embrace that when we plan and create public spaces,” said Kate Zago, who is overseeing the competition for the city. “We want to see creative designs that will draw people downtown during the winter and get people to stop, socialize and connect with our downtown neighbourhoods.”

The city says this winter, the competition’s theme will focus on “Winter Dreamscape” where applicants are welcome to use their imagination “to dream up activations, designs and experiments that will create vibrancy, better social connections, and increase overall social wellness.”

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This includes lighting up Stephen Avenue, creating “winter-friendly designs” to decorate Calgary’s parks and public areas, and bringing people together to socialize.

The city also provided information about competition locations:

· Century Gardens (8 Avenue SW and 8 Street SW)

· Barb Scott Park (12 Avenue SW and 9 Street SW)

· Stephen Avenue and 2 Street SW.

The city says they will select three submissions to receive funding to build and install their creative designs in the assigned locations.

The designs will be on display for approximately four weeks in February 2023.

The city adds this competition is important for setting plans for the future of Calgary’s downtown “to re-imagine Stephen Avenue from City Hall to Mewata Armoury,” as it plays a role in experimenting ideas.

People interested can visit the city’s website and applications are open until Oct. 20, 2022 at 12 p.m. MST.