2011

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Edmonton received the very exciting news this week that our city was chosen as the first Canadian city to receive a grant from IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge. Edmonton will receive up to $400,000 and access to IBM’s top experts to tackle strategic projects.
City Council’s special initiative assignments were released this week. Their salaries and benefits are also online.
Elephant specialist Dr. James Oosterhuis acknowledged this week that Lucy is showing some health improvements, but he remains concerned about her breathing difficulties.
It sounds like last weekend’s Refinery was another big success for the Art Gallery of Alberta. But is it really an example of how our cultural institutions are changing?
On Wednesday, the Edmonton Public Schools Board of Trustees became the first board in Alberta to pass a motion to develop specify policy to ensure all schools prevent harassment and discrimination of LGBTQ students and staff.
Congrats to Weird Canada on being voted best music site by the listeners of CBC Radio 3! Check out the blog here.
The Courtyard by Marriott was acquired this week by California-based MIG Real Estate. Terms were not disclosed.
The LRT expansion is underway in Central McDougall, but some residents are upset that the City has chopped down a canopy of elm trees without much notice. Large boulevard elm trees are worth about $60,000 each.
More bad news for the Oilers: Sam Gagner has joined Taylor Hall and Ales Hemsky in the pressbox for the rest of the season.
SEE has a write-up on Lorne Humphreys, spokesman for Speak Up Edmonton, one of the organizations opposed to the downtown arena.
Victor Mah, a well-known Edmontonian restaurateur, died recently at the age of 91.
There’s another music festival coming up – Utopia is scheduled for June 17 and 18 in Hawrelak Park.
For more headlines from the past week, check out theedmontonian.com.
Edmonton Next Gen is running a Vibrant Communities Survey. Fill it out before March 20!
The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation 2011 St. Patrick’s Day Puck Surprise Online Charity Auction (LONGEST NAME EVER) is now on until March 22. Lots of autographed stuff up for grabs!
The City of Edmonton posted a very basic video on the Community Revitalization Levy. I’m hopeful a more in-depth part two is on the way!
Here’s a cool project from Jay Palter: YEG Mappuccino. He’s mapping his quest to find the best cappuccino in Edmonton.
The deadline for nominations for the 2011 Mayor’s Awards is fast approaching! Nominate someone by March 25.
Want to help create walking maps for Crestwood, Laurier Heights, and Parkview? There’s a workshop taking place on Thursday evening.
The Edmonton Collectible Toy & Comic Show takes place on Sunday at the Shaw Conference Centre.
Seedy Sunday is also taking place on March 20, at the Alberta Avenue Community Hall.
Earth Hour is coming up on March 26. There will be family entertainment at City Hall starting at 7:15pm.
The Oilers are back at home this week, hosting Phoenix on Thursday, and Colorado on Saturday.
The Oil Kings are also at home twice this week, on Tuesday against Lethbridge, and Friday against Red Deer.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Sharon and I went to see Hunchback at The Citadel tonight. It was a great show, though Nevermore remains my Catalyst Theatre favorite. Hunchback runs until March 27 in the Shoctor Theatre.

The City Market is back downtown, in City Hall until it opens again on 104 Street.

Warm weather has returned! You know what that means. Photo by one42chrisp.

Edmonton Notes for 3/6/2011

Don’t forget I post Edmonton-related items throughout the week at Edmonton Etcetera. Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

It was another big arena-filled news week here in Edmonton, with the latest City Council meeting on the project taking place on Wednesday (check out the archived liveblog from The Charrette). Mayor Mandel implored his colleagues to just make a decision, feeling that the project has gone on too long.
Here’s a really well-written article on the proposed downtown arena from Gary Lamphier. It’s getting difficult to find the good stuff, because the arena is so often in the news lately!
The City Market announced this week that it will be open at City Hall for ten consecutive Saturdays beginning March 12. That’ll bring it to the summer season and its return to 104 Street.
Taylor Hall is out for the season after injuring his ankle in his first NHL fight. By the way, have you seen the Oilers This Week page? Very nice.
We’ve had some snow again lately. The City apparently spent more than half of its $42 million annual snow removal budget in January alone.
Dr. Robert Wolkow and his research team at the National Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Alberta have won a place in the Guinness World Records for creating a microscope tip that’s only as wide as an atom. Very cool stuff.
Scona Road will be closed entirely from May to November this year as the City works to rehabilitate sidewalks, gutters, and roadways.
In a speech on Wednesday, Premier Ed Stelmach announced that the final leg of the Anthony Henday has been given the green light. Anthony Henday Drive Northeast will be Alberta’s single biggest construction project to date.
Interesting article on public involvement here in Edmonton. Apparently there were about 380 consultations last year. There’s incredible room to improve. I hope the Centre for Public Involvement can finally get around to doing something now.
The University of Alberta, MacEwan University, NAIT, and NorQuest College have all signed an agreement to share resources in the event of an emergency or disaster.
Have you noticed an increase in the number of unexpected LRT disruptions lately? Councillor Iveson has made a formal inquiry into the issue.
They may not be getting winter tires, but Edmonton Police are going to be receiving new snow pants after signing a contract worth $250,000.
Here’s a great feature on Bretta Gerecke, a star of Edmonton’s theatre scene.
The City of Edmonton’s Office of the City Auditor received top marks in an external audit. But who will audit the auditors?
For more headlines from the past week, check out theedmontonian.com.
Capital City Clean Up is looking for Edmonton students to come up with a marketing campaign! The Dream Up a Clean Up contest is open until April 1.
Passenger statistics at the International airport remained steady at 6.1 million in 2010. You can see the year-end report in PDF here.
Be sure to check out my recap of Edmonton’s ninth Pecha Kucha Night.
Queen of Tarts on 104 Street is now open! Enjoy!
There are still five spots available in the new Arts Hub building on 118 Avenue.
The 2011 California Wine Fair takes place on Tuesday evening. Check out Sharon’s blog for a sneak peek.
Edmonton’s annual Coin Show and Sale is happening next weekend at Century Casino.
Hunchback launched at The Citadel on Saturday. It runs until the 27th.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

A window on Edmonton that you don’t often see. Wonderful! By amber_rsm.

Pecha Kucha Night: Edmonton #9

Last night was Edmonton’s ninth Pecha Kucha Night, a completely sold out event held at the Royal Alberta Museum. It was the first time in Edmonton that Pecha Kucha has been sold out in advance of the doors opening. Last night was also the first PKN in Edmonton to be live-streamed, thanks to the Edmonton Journal. You can check out their video archive here. Edmonton Next Gen also recorded the event, and will be posting video to YouTube in the near future.

In order of appearance, these were the presenters at PKN9:

Mack Male, Edmonton Blogger
Bryce Croucher, Print Designer
Dr. Kim Raine, Co-Director & Professor
Kevin Kossowan, Food Writer
Joseph Ahorro, Researcher and Ph D Candidate
Duncan Kinney, Sustainability Nerd
Jennifer Hoyer, Librarian
Jennifer Livermore, Architectural Technology Student, Closet Activist, Renovator
Nadine Riopel, Philanthropy Enthusiast
Sean Healy, Software Developer & Man About Town and Adam Rozenhart, Digital Strategist & Man About Town

Our hosts for the evening were Ryan Stark and Next Gen’s new Community Co-Chair, Tegan Martin-Drysdale. They once again used iPad’s during their introduction to the evening, which was very obviously scripted. I kind of wish they had gone a bit more free-form and had some fun with it. Their job really was to keep things on track however, and they did just that.

Overall I thought last night’s presentations were pretty good. Most people even decided to leave the cue cards and other notes behind! The evening had its usual up and down feel as topics varied from serious to funny and presenters brought different levels of energy to the stage. I was up first, so I did my best to set the bar high! I felt like my talk went well, but I’ll be writing more about that later.

Without a doubt my favorite talk of the evening was Sean and Adam’s finale. They did such a great job of presenting a topic that is of great interest to nextgenners in a completely accessible and fun way. Who knew you could talk about curbing suburban growth and the importance of public transportation in that way?! Their six minutes and forty seconds were filled with laughter, cheers, and some light-hearted jabs at Councillor Iveson and Mayor Mandel. Sean and Adam absolutely nailed it – great job guys!

Kevin’s talk on his family’s food system was another favorite of mine. He did a great job of talking about something personal without sounding self-interested. He was authentic, funny, and got his story across very effectively. If you haven’t already checked out his blog, do it now. I also really enjoyed Nadine’s talk on philanthropy. I thought she gave us food for thought and I loved her ignore-the-images-and-just-talk approach. It doesn’t always work, but for Nadine it did. Aside from myself, Nadine was the only other presenter who had spoken at PKN before, and I’m glad she was able to put PKN5 behind her. Duncan’s talk on energy was really great as well – I especially enjoyed his graph on the percentage of Albertans that are awesome.

Joseph, Kim, and Jennifer L. had the more serious talks of the evening. Jennifer H. delivered a really interesting talk on storytelling, and Bryce was perhaps the most memorable of all the presenters last night. He broke all the rules and basically went on a high-energy rant for 7 or 8 minutes!

Twitter was busy as always, this time with the hashtag #pkn9. Since midnight on March 4, there have been 974 related tweets posted here in Edmonton. Here are your top ten #pkn9 tweeters:

Here’s a word cloud of #pkn9 tweets from that same time period (with #pkn9, #yeg, and RT removed):

If you’d like to read through the stream, you can do so here. I archived it (seemed appropriate given my topic).

Some other thoughts on the evening:

Edmonton Next Gen consistently has creative and interesting marketing materials for PKN, and this time was no different. The fridge magnet design by Graphos even made the Pecha Kucha Daily blog.
I thought it was great to have the after-party at the same venue, but I wish the space had been a little bigger. It definitely felt cramped before and after the presentations.
The theatre itself worked really well, minus the inability for the presenters to walk around freely.
I love that Next Gen got Molson and Copper Moon to donate the evening’s alcohol proceeds to the Hope Mission.
Be sure to check out Brittney’s recap here and Sarah’s recap here.
There are some great photos up on Flickr, courtesy of Fish Griwkowsky. There is also a nice gallery from the Edmonton Journal here.

The next Pecha Kucha Night in Edmonton, known as PKNX, is scheduled to take place in June at the Alberta Aviation Museum. Thanks to Edmonton Next Gen for another great event, to all of the volunteers for making it happen, and to everyone who attended or watched online! Stay tuned to @EdmNextGen for updates.

You can see the rest of my photos from last night here.

Edmonton Notes for 2/20/2011

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

The five design concepts for the City Centre Airport redevelopment were released this week. You can check out the concepts in person or online. There’s a video playlist on YouTube here. I was absolutely shocked to hear that Councillor Tony Caterina is not impressed with the submissions!
Ridership topped 76 million in 2010 for ETS, an increase of 7.8 million over 2009. The number of weekday boardings on the LRT increased to 93,600 from 74,400.
The City of Edmonton has won an award from the Consulting Engineers of Alberta for the West and Southeast LRT corridor selection studies.
Does Edmonton need a “snow boss” to make sure snow removal happens efficiently? How about a ban on overnight residential parking? Those are some of the things being considered as a part of a new policy for handling severe winter storms.
Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) is exploring the possibility of a new office tower downtown, located mid-block on 102 Street north of Jasper Avenue.
Grant MacEwan University has selected Dr. David Atkinson as its new president.
City Council removed the ban on liquor ads on public transit this week. It is expected that the City will bring in an additional $1.37 million annually due to the ads.
Of course the arena is still in the news. This time it is NHL commissioner Gary Bettman who says Edmonton needs a new arena.
Nice article on Credo Coffee in VUE Weekly.
Oiler rookie Taylor Hall scored his first NHL hat trick against the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday evening.
Sutton Place Hotel general manager Richard Wong is joining Travel Alberta, and will open the corporation’s new office here in Edmonton.
The open house was last week, but you can still have your say on the future of the Kinsmen Sports Centre. Fill out the online survey here.
Former Capital Health CEO Sheila Weatherill was one of five new members appointed to Alberta’s health superboard this week.
Check out The Charrette’s latest planning roundup.
For more headlines from the past week, check out theedmontonian.com.
Right on Cue, a networking opportunity for family businesses, is taking place on Tuesday evening.
There’s a public meeting being held on Thursday evening to discuss a proposed neighbourhood in the Heritage Valley area.
Amy Goodman is in town on Saturday at the TELUS Centre for the latest installment of EPL’s Freedom to Read event series.
The Oil Kings are in action at home twice this week, on Wednesday against Calgary, and Saturday against Lethbridge.
The Oilers also play at home twice this week, on Friday against St. Louis, and Sunday against Boston.

Art Burn at the Silver Skate Festival

Blue Bay Station by Kurt

Twilight Rush Hour by POD

Art Burn at the Silver Skate Festival

The recent temperature plunge came at the worst possible time for the Silver Skate Festival. It was easily thirty below with the windchill this evening, and you could really feel it in the relatively wide open Hawrelak Park. To be honest, had it not been for the fact that Sharon and I had agreed to guest judge the 2011 Art Burn fire sculpture competition, we might not have made it out tonight. But I’m glad we did, because it was quite the show! And what’s a winter festival without a little cold, right?

There were six Art Burn fire sculpture artists: Maria Butler, Randall Fraser, Will Truchon, Tanya Garner-Tomas, Vergilio le Paz and Marissa Kochanski. Here’s a little photo tour of the evening.

We arrived early enough to check out the awesome snow sculptures.

Some artists were still busily working!

Sharon just had to sit in the Yelp throne.

Gather around the fire, that’s how you keep warm!

Vibe Tribe performed just before the Art Burn.

I know they had fire in their hands, but I bet they were still freezing.

This was Marissa Kochanski’s sculpture before the burn.

Here it is during the burn. Her sculpture was the winner!

More sculptures burning!

Randall Fraser’s “hand” sculpture was another favorite.

You can see the rest of my photos here.

Sunday night is “Fire in the Belly”, during which a larger communal sculpture created by the artists will be ignited. So if you missed out on the fire tonight, you still have an opportunity tomorrow! Just make sure you bundle up.

Thanks to Erin and Ritchie for having us, and congrats on another successful year!

Recap: Startup Weekend Edmonton 2

Edmonton’s second Startup Weekend was held this past weekend at the Computing Sciences Centre on the University of Alberta campus. It was a fantastic event that saw seven teams create some really interesting things in just 54 hours. Around 50 people participated – lots of programmers, some designers, some writers, and many others. Here’s how the weekend played out.

Friday night was pitch night. Fifteen people got up and made an elevator pitch for one or more ideas, which we stuck up giant post it pages on the walls all around the room. Everyone then had a few minutes to walk around and chat with the idea people, to determine which team they wanted to work on. In the end, seven teams were formed, with sizes ranging from two people to more than a dozen. Teams did a little bit of brainstorming and preparation that night, but I don’t think any code was written.

Saturday was a work day, with teams arriving and getting started around 9am. The atmosphere was exciting if a little relaxed. People lingered at lunch and dinner, taking advantage of the opportunities to chat with others. Some people stayed working past 11pm that night, while others went home to relax or out to party after a long day of hard work.

Most people arrived again Sunday morning around 9:30am, focused on completing as much work as possible before demo time. It was interesting to see the shift in atmosphere from Saturday to Sunday – no time was wasted on food or breaks on Sunday. People called out tasks and things like “it’s checked in!” as they worked furiously. Getting everyone to leave the building for Original Joe’s as 6pm approached was challenging!

Team Victory working right down to the wire at Original Joe’s.

There was a great turnout for the demos. Here’s what was built:

A flash-based gamed called Flatlander, a 2D game similar to minecraft.
Eartonic, an iPhone app that helps train people to learn music by ear.
Google Earth Sounds, a really interesting tool that enables people to add sounds to Google Earth. It’s such a great idea – with StreetView you can see what a street looks like, so why not find out what it sounds like too?
Swift, an attempt to make the experience of sending and finding invoices easier.
Another game, called Rubber Chicken Assassin. You take a photo of your friend with your iPhone, then beat them with a rubber chicken. It could then share a fun obituary on Facebook!
Helping Manual, a crowdsourced website to answer questions like “how do I get a social insurance number”. It’s targeted at communities such as the homeless or immigrants & newcomers, as well as the people who work with those communities. Another really great idea.
Team Victory, the team I was on, built LaunchWith.me. It’s part project directory and part people finder. We focused on a single question – would you work with someone again? LaunchWith.me is a way to answer that for colleagues you’ve worked with at companies, on projects, and in groups. You can check out a screencast here.

The weekend was a great opportunity to meet new people, to work with someone you might not otherwise had have the chance to, and to use and learn new technologies. I did all of those things, and also felt the sense of accomplishment that comes from working together to go from idea to working product in such a short period of time. It sounds so cliché, but it’s amazing what you can accomplish if you focus and work hard! Check out Rachelle’s recap for more.

I would like to see more even team sizes at our next Startup Weekend, tentatively scheduled for the fall, but part of the magic of the weekend is that the outcome is entirely up to attendees. Everyone had a role to play this weekend, even on the large teams, so if you have hesitated about attending because you’re not a programmer, keep that in mind for the next event!

Thanks to everyone who participated this weekend, and to everyone who came out to see the demos! You can see the rest of my photos here.

Edmonton Notes for 2/6/2011

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Residential grading completed late yesterday evening, but if you notice a section of road that still needs to be plowed, call 311. There are now giant windrows in most neighbourhoods, something the City says is “standard practice” across other major cities.
City Council voted in favor of giving itself a 4.64% pay raise on Wednesday, a decision many disagree with.
More turmoil in Alberta politics this week, as David Swann announced he’ll step down as leader of the Alberta Liberal party. Check out Dave’s Alberta Politics Notes for more.
The South LRT extension to Century Park was named Alberta Construction Magazine’s 2010 winner in the Civil category.
Expansion of the Shaw Conference Centre is a topic that never seems to go away. A new report says Edmonton needs double the conference space downtown.
There’s another winter festival being proposed. I’d much rather see an improved Winter Light than competing festivals.
This year is the 60th anniversary of the City of Edmonton’s Salute to Excellence. You have until Tuesday, February 22 to nominate an outstanding citizen.
Here’s a great article on Jeff McElheran, a graffiti artist who is being paid for his art.
John Connolly is the new publisher of the Edmonton Journal. It’ll be interesting to see if actually delivers on the “digital first” strategy.
Former Edmonton MP Doug Roche has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.
Local radio station EZ Rock 104.9 FM has switched formats and is now Virgin Radio, a top 40 station competing with The Bounce and Hot 107.
I’m not exactly sure why, but flex time at the City of Edmonton was in the news on Friday. Mandel doesn’t like the program, which has been in existence since at least 1982.
For more headlines from the past week, check out theedmontonian.com.
There are lots of daily deals in Edmonton. Do you have a favorite?
Great article on former Edmonton radio DJ Fearless Fred.
Looking for something other than dinner on Valentine’s Day? Here are some alternatives.
On Friday, the University of Alberta recaptured the world record for the largest game of dodgeball.
The Oil Kings are in action at home on Tuesday against the Prince George Cougars.
The Oilers have a busy week at home, on Wednesday against Chicago, Saturday against Ottawa, and Sunday against Anaheim.
Meet the Media is taking place on Friday evening at Brewsters in Oliver.
The Edmonton Rush host the Washington Stealth on Friday evening.
I’m really looking forward to Startup Weekend taking place from Friday-Sunday.
Also next weekend – the World’s Longest Hockey Game begins!
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Look at those awesome snowballs! That was at Illuminations, which contained a preview of Yukigassen.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Edmonton Notes for 1/30/2011

Be sure to check out Edmonton Etcetera for updates throughout the week!

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach announced this week that he will not seek re-election. Dave has a good roundup of reaction.
You can see the latest residential snow plowing status and schedule here. The snow, combined with warmer temperatures recently, has caused all kinds of problems, such as the roof collapse at the Northgate Lions Senior Centre.
In case you missed them – here is my interview with City Manager Simon Farbrother, and here is my interview with CIO Chris Moore. Also, be sure to check out my profile of Joyce Tustian, who is retiring from the City this week.
Happy Anniversary to the new Art Gallery of Alberta!
It wasn’t as well attended as organizers had hoped, but Freezing Man still sounded like a great event.
The City’s History is in Good Hands – the Transforming Edmonton blog visits the City Archives.
At the Old Strathcona Farmers Market, I spotted a petition on the Walterdale Bridge replacement project. David Staples thinks the City should spend whatever it takes to build a signature bridge.
Excavation is underway for the new Community Centre in Boyle Renaissance. The previous Boyle Street Community Hall will be demolished.
Spend a few minutes with…Garner Andrews.
Transcend Coffee is set to open its third location in the former Axis Café space. It’ll feature an expanded hot food menu.
Here is the 2010 Fourth Quarter Report to the Community from EPS and the Edmonton Police Commission.
Bombardier is interested in Edmonton’s rail projects, both LRT expansion and a possible high-speed rail link to Calgary.
Edmonton designer Sid Neigum will be making his debut at LG Fashion Week this spring.
Here’s the latest newsletter from the Edmonton Public Library.
The City is looking for inspired designs for five LEED silver certified park pavilions.
For more headlines from the past week, check out theedmontonian.com.
Brittney has had some great features lately on City Councillors. Here’s Ben Henderson, Bryan Anderson, and Ed Gibbons.
International Week starts tomorrow! You can see the event on ShareEdmonton here.
Also tomorrow is the next Emerging Business Leaders meeting.
Los Angeles is in town on Wednesday evening to take on the Oilers.
On Thursday evening I am participating in Twitter Talks with a bunch of other local Twitter users. Should be fun!
The Edmonton Renovation Show takes place next weekend at the Edmonton Expo Centre. The gun show is also at the Expo Centre next weekend.
Saturday evening is the Showdown Showcase concert from The Bounce.
Winter Light continues next weekend with Common Ground, which takes place at Giovanni Caboto Park.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Another shot of Winter Light’s Illuminations.

Fantastic winter shot of the Peter Hemingway Pool by Darren Kirby.

Winter Light 2011: Illuminations featuring Circus Orange

It was cold outside tonight, but Churchill Square was still full of people for Winter Light’s Illuminations. This year the event featured Yukigassen, a Japanese snow battle sport, roving performers, the Illuminations Choir, and the Edmonton premiere of Circus Orange, a Toronto-based pyrotechnic circus troupe. They performed TRICYCLE, “a dramatic fusion of live music, clown, circus, dance, aerial performance, mechanics, pyrotechnics and fire arts.” It was amazing.

Perfect night for a stroll in Churchill Square!

Warming up by the fire.

I love the way City Hall looks at night, all lit up.

The tricycle in front of the Art Gallery of Alberta.

She got everyone’s attention then led the crowd to the tricycle.

The large crowd followed the tricycle throughout the square. It was great!

The fire looked awfully close to the trees! You can see a video of it here.

A few kids were scared of these guys!

Circus Orange takes flight!

Don’t you love seeing the square full of people?

They took the front wheel of the tricycle off and put the acrobat inside!

Then it lit up!

And there were fireworks!

You can see the rest of my photos here.

Tonight’s event did a lot of things right, in my opinion. They finally spent some of the large Winter Light budget – I can’t imagine that Circus Orange was cheap! It was a fantastic show that looked expensive, with lots of lights, fire, props, and a crane. It was worth it. Another thing I loved was that they used the entire square. The tricycle started at the Art Gallery and the large crowd followed it to Three Bananas and back through the square toward City Hall, with different stops along the way. The storytelling aspect was great too, with the scary stilt guys and the clown who never spoke in English. Lots of fun for everyone!

The temperature doesn’t matter. You know what people do when it’s cold? They dance to keep warm. It adds to the experience! And tonight, the people who stayed until the end were rewarded, with a big finale that even featured fireworks. For a few minutes, I forgot that I was cold!

Kudos to Winter Light for a great event. Let’s have more of this please!

Happy Anniversary to the Art Gallery of Alberta!

This weekend the Art Gallery of Alberta celebrates the one year anniversary of its new building in Churchill Square. It’s hard to believe that it was a year ago that the ribbon cutting took place and Edmontonians were clamoring to get a peek at the beautiful facility.

And what a year it has been! Here are some of the highlights of 2010:

Attendance more than quadrupled since 2009 – more than 111,000 visitors!
Of that number, approximately 87,000 were paid admission, which significantly surpassed the target of 65,000.
The number of AGA members increased from 1650 to 5300!
A total of 17 exhibitions were presented, 5 of which were dedicated to Alberta arists.
Roughly 4700 people in total attended the 395 public tours that were given. In addition, 146 private tours were given to a total of 3150 visitors.
School programs grew from 5000 students in 2009 to 14,500 last year.
A total of 367 private and corporate events, 24 wedding receptions, and 62 wedding photos sessions took place.

Here are a few graphs to help illustrate the success of 2010:

One of the highlights for me personally was the Refinery series of events. There were three in 2010, and each one was more popular than the last. Over 1700 people attended Refinery, and 800 of those were at the most recent event (it was so popular, people had to be turned away). I wrote about the second Refinery here. The 367 private and corporate events is significant as well. I attended dozens of events that took place at the AGA last year, it’s a great venue.

And who could forget the exhibitions! From Edgar Degas, Francisco Goya, and Edward Burtynsky to Warner Bros., Jonathan Kaiser, and Laura St. Pierre, we had a little bit of everything. I particularly enjoyed the Warner Bros. cartoons and Janet Cardiff & George Miller Bures’ Storm Room.

While the building was the most obvious “new” thing from 2010, let’s not forget that the AGA launched a new restaurant, logo, a new website, and established a presence in social media last year as well. All of those things helped the organization win a variety of awards:

Metal Construction Association Presidents Award for Overall Excellence
Institutional Winner: Alberta Construction Magazine 2009 Top Projects
2010 Edmonton Economic Development Corporation Recognition Excellence Award
Best Cultural Institution 2010 by See Magazine
Zinc Restaurant was named one of the Best New Restaurants of 2010 by Where Magazine
Allan Scott was named Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser by the Edmonton Association of Fundraising Professionals

Interview with Gilles Hébert, AGA Executive Director

The numbers for 2010 are certainly impressive. I asked Gilles to reflect on the past year. “It’s quite remarkable,” he told me. “The challenge is to maintain the momentum and continue to grow our audience.” In the first two months after the new building opened to the public, more than 30,000 people visited. “Lots of people came initially just to see the inside of the building,” Gilles said. Now he says people are coming back for the programming. “We exist because of the program, not because we have a cool building.”

Gilles said the AGA has seen the most interest in its contemporary programming, which he described as “pretty cool”. The success of the AGA’s contemporary exhibitions has driven interest nationally too. “People are looking to us for these big ambitious shows,” he told me. “They’re drawn in by the level of enthusiasm that is palpable in this community.”

Looking ahead to 2011, Gilles told me the challenge is generating buzz in places other than Edmonton. “There is no other institution like us in this province – we have a provincial mandate.” One of the ways the AGA is doing that is through social media. “We’re finding that these new forms of communication are really driving interest and allowing people to connect with what we’re doing.” He said their social media activities are actually becoming more valuable than traditional printed material and paid advertising, at least in terms of driving audience.

Gilles told me he is really looking forward to the celebration this weekend. “We are so proud to celebrate this milestone.”

Sunday Celebration

The anniversary celebration takes place on Sunday from 11am until 5pm. Here’s a brief description of what to expect:

The day includes the launch of the official AGA building book, presentations by the Citadel Theatre, Alberta Ballet and the Edmonton Opera, exhibition tours, as well as cupcakes for the first 500 visitors.

It should be a great day! You can see the event on ShareEdmonton here. And if you just can’t wait until Sunday, tonight is opening night for the Brian Jungen exhibition which features three sculptural installations.

If you’re taking photos this weekend, be sure to add them to the AGA pool on Flickr. Be sure to follow the Art Gallery of Alberta on Twitter.

You can see my photos of the AGA here. If you’d like a bit of background on the new building, check out my recap of architect Randall Stout’s talk.

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