Built by FieldClientsCalgary Arts Development

Calgary Arts Development

Supporting and strengthening the arts to benefit all Calgarians

Since 2025

Overview

Calgary Arts Development is Calgary's designated arts development authority, investing municipal funding to support hundreds of arts organizations, individual artists, and collectives across the city. Since taking over Calgary's public art program in 2021, they've worked to reduce barriers for local artists while creating opportunities that shape the city's cultural identity and public spaces.

  1. Calgary Public Art Guide

    2025

    Making Calgary's art accessible to everyone through interactive mapping

    Calgary's public art tells the story of a city—from large-scale murals and permanent sculptures to temporary installations and grassroots community projects scattered across every quadrant. But for too long, discovering these artworks meant stumbling upon them by chance or relying on fragmented information. Calgary Arts Development partnered with Built by Field to change that, creating a comprehensive digital platform that makes the city's creative landscape accessible to everyone.

    The Challenge

    Calgary needed a way to showcase its diverse public art collection while serving multiple audiences with different needs. The platform had to accommodate city-owned pieces from Calgary's Public Art Collection, publicly funded and privately commissioned works, and community-led initiatives all while remaining intuitive enough for casual explorers and robust enough for serious art enthusiasts. The solution required seamless integration with Calgary's Open Data API, support for rich multimedia content, and the flexibility to grow as new artworks are added to the city's landscape.

    The Solution

    We built an interactive map that puts Calgary's entire public art collection at users' fingertips. The platform features location-based browsing, detailed artist profiles, and multimedia content that deepens each artwork's story. Users can filter by artwork type, explore by theme, or create custom self-guided tours tailored to their interests. Behind the scenes, we integrated Calgary's Open Data API with a flexible Sanity-based content management system, giving Calgary Arts Development the ability to continuously update and expand the guide while maintaining full control over content and imagery.

    Technical Approach

    The Calgary Public Art Guide is built on a modern web architecture designed for performance and scalability. We leveraged MapLibre GL JS for smooth, responsive map interactions, integrating it with Calgary's Open Data API to provide real-time access to the city's community and ward data. The Sanity CMS powers the content management layer, allowing the Calgary Arts Development team to enrich each artwork entry with photos, artist bios, and contextual information.

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