Access Granted

A recent $11-million investment from the City of Calgary has helped fuel the final phase of the Glenbow Museum’s massive renovation, Glenbow Reimagined. The project, underway since 2021, aims to transform the 1970s-era structure into a modern welcoming home for creativity. 

At the centre of this reimagining is an expanded visitor experience with increased visibility for its extraordinary collection — the largest public art collection in Western Canada. Key renovation features include new street-level entrances, visitor access to all eight floors and unique back-of-house views of the museum’s art storage systems. Glenbow’s new Conservation Lab on the eighth floor will even give visitors a behind-the-scenes peek at how conservators preserve and maintain the museum’s art and objects. 

The new-and-improved Glenbow will house a 13,000-square-foot rooftop terrace designed by renowned American artist Maya Lin; it’s envisioned as a community-oriented area where guests can gather in event spaces and sculpture gardens. Meanwhile, Canadian artist Faye HeavyShield has been commissioned to create a work that will be suspended below the new fifth-floor skylight, above the main floor and visible to all through the new vertical gallery. 

“These public spaces will add to Calgary’s vibrancy as a cultural hub and further allow people to explore the many ways Glenbow adds to the city’s cultural fabric,” says Glen-bow president and CEO Nicholas Bell. 

Expanded access to Glenbow’s 250,000 works of art and historical artifacts also comes in the form of free admission — forever — thanks to the JR Shaw Free Admission Endowment. That’s right, free art for everyone.