Calgary Stampede: Canada’s Largest Arts Festival.
While a few Calgarians and Canadians will be happy to see the Stampede’s Rodeo and Chuckwagon races cancelled this year and hope they never happen again what they don’t realize is that cancelling the Calgary Stampede also meant cancelling Canada’s largest and most diverse arts festival. And it places all of the Calgary’s Stampede’s year-round programming in jeopardy.
While the Rodeo and Chuckwagon races get the majority of the national and international media attention (not always positive) during the annual 10 days of Stampede, the Stampede is more than a one trick pony. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look.
Note: An edited version of this blog was published by CBC Calgary titled “Calgary Stampede: More than just a rodeo” on April 23rd, 2020 after the announcement that the 2020 Stampede was cancelled.
Calgary Stampede Grandstand Show is a multi-genre art experience.
Charlie Russell
Art has been part of the Calgary Stampede since its inception in 1912. Three visual artists presented and sold their works at the very first Stampede. The most notable of was Charlie Russell. Over the two-week period, 14 of his 20 pieces were sold and due to overwhelming demand, the Russell exhibit was moved to the Royal Building downtown for a one-week continuation at the conclusion of the Stampede. The popularity of his work at the 1912 Stampede inspired him to start his famous RCMP series. One of Russell’s 20 pieces from the 1912 Calgary Stampede Art Show, a watercolor, was exhibited with the Glenbow Museum’s show “Capturing Legends - Russell, Remington and the Canadian Frontier.”
The Calgary Stampede hosted an exhibition of Russell’s work a few years back.
Stampede is a huge music festival!
From a music perspective, the Stampede has four music venues with a total of 80 to 100 bands performing creating a 10-day music festival. The Coca-Cola Stage showcases 50+ performers (local, national and international) that attract an audience estimated as high as 400,000. Last year one of the headliners was Feist, not exactly your typical country and western singer songwriter. Nashville North attracts another 100,000 people to listen to 19 different artists. The Big Four Roadhouse which opened in 2017 hosted 20 bands attracting another 30,000 people in 2019. And the Scotiabank Saddledome hosted 3 concerts by the likes of Sugarland, Tim McGraw and Zac Brown Band with a total attendance of 30,000. Collectively, the Stampede in 2019 offered 100+ performances, by 100+ musicians that attracted an estimated audience of 500,000+ people.
But wait, there is more. The “Window on the West” has two stages at the Western Oasis that host 50+ young local performers attracting an audience estimated at 5,000. The Weadickville outdoor stage attracts 20,000+ people to listen to another 30 musicians. Throw in the 160-member Calgary Stampede Showband’s 100 performances during Stampede, as well as the World Showband Championship and the attendance to Stampede music events swells to over 600,000 people.
While some music connoisseurs may scoff at calling the Stampede a music festival the variety of music and the attendance figures don’t lie, it is by far Calgary’s biggest music festival. And it showcases more local artists than most major urban music festivals.
Stampede Park has numerous live music venues.
Performing & Visual Arts
When it comes to the performing arts, the Stampede Grandstand show engages 200+ performers in various genres for their 2-hour long extravaganza. The show attracts an audience of 160,000+ each year equal to Theatre Calgary’s (130,000 annual patrons) and Decidedly Jazz (20,000 patrons) combined.
But it doesn’t stop there. The Stampede is also a major visual arts festival with its Western Art Showcase featuring 150 professional artists in a 100,000+ square foot gallery that attracts 150,000+ visitors (that is on par with the Glenbow attendance for the entire year – 150,735 in 2018). In addition, the Stampede’s “Maker Market” with its 50+ artisans draws an audience estimated at 100,000+ over the 10 days of Stampede. The Stampede’s fun, mixed-media show of quilts, woodworking, drawings, fiber arts and even cake decorating showcases the work of over 150 community artists, attracts 150,000+ spectators.
Add all that up and you have 300,000+ Calgarians, Albertans, Canadian and international visitors enjoying a quality art experience. Again Calgary’s high-brow culture executives might not see these as cutting-edge art experiences, but from the public’s perspective they are entertaining and enlightening.
And I expect for many young people, they are just as inspiring as academic art experiences.
And, Stampede Park is home to 17 significant public artworks – murals and sculptures, making it on par with and complimentary to Beltline’s Urban Mural Project. There is an online Stampede Park Art Walk brochure (available in Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese), that makes it easy for anyone to explore the park and see the artworks anytime.
Indigenous Artists
While many of Calgary’s arts groups are just now integrating indigenous artists into their programming, the Calgary Stampede has been doing so for over 100 years. The Elbow River Camp is home to 100s of indigenous performances from drumming to dancing (hoop, jingle, fancy, traditional, grass, buckskin and cowboy special) by 1,500+ performers. There are five evenings of story-telling and the Council Tipi has artists doing beadwork, leather work, parfleche and other traditional indigenous artwork every day. In addition to traditional artwork, in 2019 the Elbow River Camp also had a DJ performing techno music. It is estimated over 100,000 Stampede visitors experienced an indigenous art performance or watched an artmaking demonstration.
The Calgary Stampede is a leader when it comes to recognizing and celebrating the history and culture of our First Nation neighbours.
First Nation Slide Show
Year Round Arts Centre
But the Stampede is more than the 10 days in July. Stampede park currently has three venues that are year-round for art activities - Doherty Hall (capacity 130), BMO Amphitheatre (capacity 800) and the TransAlta Performing Arts Studio (capacity 712). The Big Four Roadhouse is also a year round music venue attracting about 40,000 patrons outside of the Stampede.
As well, the TransAlta Studio being home to the Young Canadians, Calgary Stampede Show Band, Calgary Stetson Show Band, Calgary Round-Up Band and Band of Outriders is a training facility for 1,000+ young Calgary musicians and dancers. Next to The Conservatory at Mount Royal College, it is largest music educational institution in Calgary and one of the largest in Canada.
Calgary Arts Academy School opened in 2017 with an enrollment of 300 students as part of the Stampede’s Youth Campus initiative, which also included the TransAlta Performing Arts Studio, an amphitheatre outdoor performance space. Plans are also in the works the Calgary Opera Community Arts Centre to be located on the campus in the future.
Stampede Park is also home to the annual Calgary Expo that attracts over 100,000 people of all ages and backgrounds for four days of celebrating Calgary’s vibrant cosplay culture. It is a fun mixture of performance, visual and literary arts. It is also home to numerous other festivals and major events like Beakerhead a celebration of art, science and engineering.
Stampede Economic Impact
In December 2019, the Conference Board of Canada published the “Economic Impact of the Calgary Stampede” documenting that the 10-day Stampede Event accounts for about half ($283M) of the Calgary Stampede’s $541M total impact on the Calgary economy. Put another way the Conference Board calculated the 10-days of Stampede accounts for 2,244 person-years of employment directly and indirectly and the year-round activities supports 4,131 person-years of employment.
Looking at the Stampede’s annual financial statements, on average the 10-days of Stampede generate about $20M in profits which is used to support its numerous other community programs (including almost $3M to youth and arts programs) and its year-round operations.
Link: Calgary Stampede Corporate Structure
Indeed, cancelling the Stampede will impact Calgarians of all ages and backgrounds, not only for the 10-days, but for the next year and maybe beyond. It will negatively impact students who depend on Stampede jobs to fund their education, hundreds of small businesses for whom Stampede is their Christmas, Rotary members who depend on the Stampede to raise funds for their community projects and the Treaty Six Nations who showcase their culture at Stampede each year.
Last Word
Indeed, the Stampede is Calgary’s largest arts organization and Stampede Park is our biggest arts centre. The Calgary Stampede is a not-for-profit organization that depends very much on the profits earned during the 10-days of Stampede to fund its year-round operations.
This year’s Stampede will be missed by Calgarians and Albertans of all ages.
If you like this blog, you might like these blogs:
Stampede Park: Calgary’s best children’s playground?
Flaneuring Calgary’s Stampede Poster Parade
Historical Postcards from the Calgary Stampede