containR
Community, culture, and performance at the heart of the city
Located at the heart of Calgary, near the Sunnyside CTrain station, containR is designed, developed and curated by Springboard Performance. It’s a pop-up arts and culture hub for people of all identities and ages championing local artistic and creative ideas. containR features an Art Park, performance series, community instigations and mural installations made of retrofit shipping containers. It is a vibrant meeting place, providing access to art and encouraging grass roots community engagement.
containR was awarded the Placemaking Award at the Mayor’s Lunch for Arts Champions, and has been featured at the IETM Conference (Italy), CINARS (Montreal), Calgary Arts Congress, and York University’s Arts, Placemaking, and Policy Conference (Toronto). containR was recently awarded a CCVO Innovation Award from the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations, for “disruptive, adaptive, and innovative programming”.
Community update!
After summer 2025, containR will be moving!
At containR Art Park we’ve been animating public space in the heart of Sunnyside for the last 14 years as both a response and a solution to an ever-changing urban life cycle of possibilities. In this time we have also hosted activations in the East Village, Marda Loop, Forest Lawn and at
Victoria Park.
2025 marks a shift in the life of containR as we move our home base from Sunnyside to new Calgary communities. In alignment with The City of Calgary’s “Live a Creative Life strategy” policy for public space, we
believe that gathering in public space and living a creative life makes for a healthier society. With this in mind, containR will continue to work with Calgarians and visitors to build meaningful cultural connections and hubs for people of all identities and ages, encouraging actively engaged neighborhoods by championing local art and community ideas.
As always, our dynamic space and art park methodology will feature performance series, gardens, community instigations, and mural installations made of our iconic retrofitted shipping containers.
To best serve our communities, this summer we will engage our patrons (YOU!), asking what is important to you about the cultural contributions made by containR. Why does cultural and community-focused public space matter? How can artists play an integral part in the shaping of
public space? When do you want to gather, create, play, and why? What containR memory would you like to share with us that we should carry forward to new communities?
No matter the new places we land, containR will remain as a vibrant meeting place, inviting Calgarians to reimagine what public space can be.
SO, the end of this season is decidedly NOT the end of containR, but the beginning of new possibilities, new partnerships and a refreshed vision for activating Calgary’s art community in public spaces.
Stay tuned!
And join us for one final summer at our current Sunnyside location!
Rental opportunities are open now and our summer calendar of events will launch soon…
containR; a creative placemaking art park for outdoor arts and culture happenings.
Host an event at ContainR!
ContainR has all you need for a perfect outdoor event. Inquire now to rent the space this summer!
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Designed and hand crafted by Stoney Nakoda metalsmith artist Andrew Holloway of Yethka Metalworks, this firepit is inspired by Indigenous imagery and offers a place to connect with community, the land, and our history.
The fire gathering place is open and available to the community and at containR events.
We ask that the public be mindful about the intentions of the firepit; it is meant to nurture genuine connections, whether it be through facilitated events or personal gatherings, and stand as a representation of Indigenous art in the Sunnyside community.