On a cold January morning, the Reconciliation Bridge cuts a clean line against a pale winter sky. The Bow River below is glazed with ice, its dark water threading through snow-packed edges. Hung high along the bridge, Michelle Ku’s banners immediately draw the eye, offering a splash of colour and a glimpse of humour for anyone crossing into the downtown core.
These banners are part of the Centre City Banner Program, a public art initiative that transforms five main gateway bridges — Reconciliation, Centre Street, Louise (10 Street), MacDonald, and Mewata (14 Street) — into temporary urban galleries. What began as a modest beautification effort has grown into a recognized feature of Calgary’s cultural landscape. Even in the starkness of winter, the banners provide a bright, engaging contrast to the steel, ice, and snow of the cityscape, inviting residents to notice the creativity integrated into their everyday routes.
View this post on Instagram
How the Program Works
Calgary Arts Development (CADA), in partnership with the City of Calgary, manages the program, overseeing production, printing, and installation. Each cycle begins with an open call to artists. Selected creators develop a series of six original artworks, which are then reproduced and installed along the five bridges and key downtown light-pole corridors. Display periods typically last about one year, after which new artwork is installed, keeping the program dynamic and continuously refreshed.
At its heart, the Centre City Banner Program engages local artists to create original works that reflect Calgary’s diverse communities, histories, and landscapes. Beyond providing artists with high-visibility platforms, the program enhances the streetscape, marks bridges as welcoming gateways to downtown, and emphasizes equity and inclusion by encouraging submissions from historically underrepresented creators.
Engaging the Public
The strength of the Centre City Banner Program is its ability to turn our everyday routes into open-air galleries.
“It gives local artists a highly visible platform right in the heart of the city, encouraging Calgarians to pause and notice creativity integrated into the places they move through every day,” said Kirsten Schrader, the director of communications.
Every crossing becomes an unexpected encounter. Drivers catch flashes of colour as they pass across bridges, cyclists see the banners ripple in the wind, and pedestrians can pause to study patterns and playful details up close. Each perspective offers a different way for Calgarians to engage with the art and appreciate how it enhances the urban environment.
Colour Through the Seasons
While winter highlights the contrast between steel, snow, and ice, the banners’ impact extends well beyond the cold months. Each cycle introduces new artwork, adding to Calgary’s evolving cultural identity and making the bridges more than transit routes. The program shows how public art enriches daily life, offering a visual welcome into downtown while giving local artists a platform to share their creativity.
The current banners will remain until spring, when a new artist will take their turn. In 2026, the program will feature Mackenzie Brown, a First Nations Cree woman from the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation. Brown is known for her vibrant acrylic paintings, beadwork, leatherwork, and large-scale murals. Her work reflects her Cree heritage, with a strong focus on the relationship between land, animals, and Indigenous identity in a contemporary context.
The program has already selected new artists through 2028. Chrysalis, Alberta Society for Citizens with Disabilities, will be featured in 2027, followed by Lyndon Navalta in 2028, giving residents and visitors something to anticipate and a reason to keep their eyes open as they cross the city.
Gallery Listings
CONTEMPORARY CALGARY
Entwined
Until March 15
Across diverse media, 19 Canadian artists from the prairies explore humanity’s intertwined relationship with land and other species. Their work addresses ecological crises, Indigenous knowledge, myth, and technology to inspire care, reciprocity, and renewed awareness of interdependence amid rapid environmental change.
ALBERTA CRAFT COUNCIL
Craft Perspectives
January 17 to March 14
Celebrating 45 years, this intriguing exhibition features new works by 16 contemporary craft artists who’ve drawn inspiration from historical objects, archival collections, and cultural artifacts scattered across the province. Forgotten stories and hidden treasures from the past are reimagined through contemporary craft.
ESKER FOUNDATION
Anthony Cudahy: metronome yawned
January 23 to April 26
Anthony Cudahy’s luminous figurative paintings and precise drawings weave personal archives with art-historical motifs, turning collected images into intimate, mythic scenes. Reimagining overlooked queer histories, he shows how revisiting the past can shape identity, nurture vulnerability, and open space for renewal.
