OUR TOWN: CSpace Grand Opening, South Calgary

adancer, an actor and a writer walk into a building… and shows are choreographed, rehearsals proceed and novels are written. That’s it; that’s the punchline. Granted, it’s not a knee-slapper, but cSpace, the marvellous, long-anticipated experiment poised to elevate the way the arts and artists succeed in Calgary, may be a game-changer.

Nearly a decade in the planning, cSpace is a non-profit, “social-purpose real estate” initiative that has transformed King Edward school into a lively, collaborative community hub. Below-market rental rates for studio and office spaces make the building accessible to arts and festival groups, and other creatively focused entrepreneurs. As project president and CEO Reid Henry puts it, “this is a 50,000-square-foot incubation space for all sorts of artistic disciplines…. It’s unique and it’s going to be a new heartbeat in our city.”

It’s not a bad new lease on life for the 115-year-old school—the renovation left vintage blackboards, classrooms, crown mouldings and other nostalgic touches in place—that closed in 2001. Unofficially, cSpace opened to tenants on Jan. 1. Twenty-nine groups moved in, including Quest Theatre, the Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society, the Alberta Craft Council, the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society, the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association and several individual photographers, sculptors, filmmakers, jewelry-makers, painters and arts educators.

Henry compares the place to “a mini-Banff Centre in the city,” a comparison that will have more validity once Phase 2 of cSpace opens at the end of the month. Tacked on to the west side of the sandstone building, the three-storey, glass-and-steel structure will house a 125-seat theatre, shared kitchen, teaching studios, multiple classrooms and a large deck. It will also serve as the headquarters for the Alberta College of Art + Design’s continuing-education programs and be home to a co-working space open to 16 “creative-realm” freelancers who need short-term desk space. A nine-kilowatt solar panel system on the roof confirms that the old building is hep to new realities.

Of course, you don’t have to be an artist to enjoy the space. A coffee shop opens this month and the art gallery is already up and running. If you’re really smitten with the place, you can move right in: 19 luxury houses are under construction on the west side of the building and 90 seniors units will soon go up on the east side. Outside of that, you can get a fulsome look at the place at the grand opening, Friday, Sept. 29 to Sunday, Oct. 1, when cSpace will also be celebrating Alberta Culture Days. Expect open studios, bands, beer gardens and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

It’ll be a whole new take on back to school.