Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • C1

Yo Ca Her THursd, 23, 2020 seCTiON Eric VolmEr Less than two months after it opened its first major exhibition at the revamped Centennial Planetarium, Contemporary Calgary closed its doors. The closure was one of many casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic and, while temporary, it seemed particularly disappointing for an organization in the midst of an exciting reboot in a new facility. After all, it had just announced an ambitious opening season for 2020 that was to include five exhibits, including one by Yoko Ono. A scale model of the moon was hanging from its rafters. Dozens of imaginative pieces filled every nook and cranny.

On Jan. 23, the organization began offering expanded hours and a $20 annual membership. The draw was two major exhibits: Museum of the Moon by U.K. artist Luke Jerram, which consisted of a scale model of the moon suspended from the 13-me- tre dome; and Planetary, made up of otherworldly work by more than 30 local artists who took part in Contemporary inaugural Collider residency. From Jan.

23 to March 13, 5,600 people visited the facility. But there was no time to mope. March 14 was a Saturday. By Monday, a series of online meetings had been called that were dubbed Gallery right away, from the moment we were closed, our team rallied says Contemporary Calgary chief executive cer David Leinster. started by looking at our exhibitions and things we could do to promote our content online, but also starting to take a survey of what galleries and museums from around the world were starting to do in terms of activating their content in an interesting way.

Closing the doors physically has, in many respects, only opened them in a new way and had us really thinking clearly about our digital Like many arts organizations in Calgary and around the world, Contemporary Calgary is adapting. But it has also taken a leadership role nationally and perhaps even globally in spearheading digital programming and putting artists to work. Called Art Where You Are, making the best of a bad situation. had 1,300 people coming out to that opening says Leinster. it was with great excitement that we launched the facility and invited people in and we grew our membership an incredible amount.

So, yes, it was unfortunate to need to close. But exactly what everybody needed to do to stand in solidarity against this health crisis. But I think the momentum has maintained and the spirit of Contemporary Calgary is being felt in new ways, started pretty he adds. The first step was to extend the existing exhibitions online and er a series of artist talks and artistic challenges for the public, such as creating a self-isolation haiku or drawing a self-portrait as an inanimate object. The program kicked April 6 with a presentation that seemed particularly timely.

It involved an interview between the chief curator, Ryan Doherty, and artist Luke Jerram, who spoke not only about his Museum of the Moon exhibit currently hanging in a somewhat deflated form in the old planetarium, but also Glass Microbiology, a 23-cm-diameter sculpture of the coronavirus that is approximately two million times larger than the real thing. The half-hour talk is still available on the website. Contemporary Calgary also launched its second Collider residency, albeit with one significant alteration. While the Collider was designed for local artists, Year 2 will see it moved online and operate without geographical borders. An international open-call was put out and submissions have been received from 300 artists representing 62 countries, including China, Australia, Haiti, Croatia, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Spain, Turkey, India, Indonesia, Lebanon and Taiwan.

The submissions are being reviewed and 10 will be chosen, and paid $1,500 each, for the six-week residency. The organization also spearheaded Field Trip: Art Across Canada, which has some of the most celebrated artists delivering talks and workshops. It now involves 19 organizations, including The National Gallery of Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Musee De Joliette. As with the residency, participating artists are being paid. soon get up to daily Leinster says.

now, as starting this initiative, I think every other day. Each day, a gallery will have the programming for a field trip. You create a post, you create the content, you update the website, you share the promotional and social-media graphics. ectively, each day of the week have programming brought to you from galleries across the So far, that has included everything from Contemporary presentation of artists Jennifer Saleik and David Foy, a.k.a. DaveandJenn, leading workshops for making cut-paper puppets; to a heady panel discussion out of the Vancouver Art Gallery called can museums be spaces for As for its regular season, it will be postponed rather than cancelled.

Dates have yet to be determined, but Leinster says the hope is to push exhibits that were meant to open on May 21 including Yoko Ono: Growing Freedom and Same Dream by Senegalese artist Omar Ba to the fall. The organization was in the midst of a $117-million multi-phase renovation, which included transforming the former TELUS World of Science Creative Kids Museum into a foot gallery space. But Leinster said the approach, including that $20 annual membership fee, is one of and affordability for which has put the relatively new organization in an enviable spot. think that has served us well in this time because we collect a significant amount of revenue from admissions and he says. we were budgeting for this particular we put a lot of expectation on admissions and memberships in terms of this operating budget.

think being new and being a very small team already has helped us through this uncertain period of ReRn Contemporar Calgar adapts to pandemic closure by taking art online Contemporary David Leinster says spirit of Contemporary Calgary is being felt in new ways, The group has become a vanguard in digital programming. Azin GhAffAri Closing the doors physically has only opened them in a new way and had us thinking clearly about our digital strategy. Apple is bringing back Fraggle Rock. Variety has learned that the tech streaming service has ordered a new iteration of the classic Jim Henson series titled Fraggle Rock: Rock On! Each episode will be three to five minutes long, with the first episode of the series now available for free on Apple New episodes will globally every Tuesday. The show will bring back such classic characters as Gobo, Red, Boober, Mokey, Wembley and Uncle Traveling Matt.

In the first episode, titled Shine On, new Doozertubes are delivered to the caves, allowing them to come together for a favourite song. The all-new short form episodes are produced by The Jim Henson Company, and executive produced by Halle Stanford and John Tartaglia. Variety.com Fr a.