A Creative City: Experiencing Calgary’s Participatory Culture Through the Artistic Lens.

We all need to see goodness.

Good things, good news and good situations might seem hard to find these days, but they are out there. I personally encountered something good and unexpected last week and I would like to share my experience of it with you.

I participated in a wonderful class project which is rooted in civic engagement, creativity and diverse perspectives called Jane’s Walk. Jane’s Walk is a movement which was started in honor of Jane Jacobs, an author, activist and theorist who contributed greatly to urban studies and civic engagement as a whole. These walks center around the idea that it is our unique memories, experiences and expertise with certain areas of our city that truly define it and give it life. Jane’s Walks are led by any and every individual who wishes to share their experience with an area of our city and “be the expert” for a 15 minute walk.

My Jane’s Walk was led virtually, and I chose to focus on my own neighborhood and surrounding area of Huntington Hills in North West Calgary. While on my walk, I encountered many beautiful sceneries and green spaces–areas where I felt like I could just walk and think for hours. Shortly after leaving Egerts Park, a wonderful off-leash area in Calgary, I came across the most impactful landmark of my Jane’s Walk: Toon Tunnel.

Immediately, I found myself in awe of Calgary’s creativity. Here I was, standing in a seemingly ordinary, uneventful underpass tunnel, and yet within the tunnel was so much life, love, joy and excitement! People’s ideas were alive and being expressed in a beautiful, visible way. I spent several moments marvelling at the various doodles and cartoons which brought back memories of Saturday morning cartoons on the television. This was truly a gift for me to cherish in our city, and I felt like I had glimpsed an image of what it means to be a creative city. It is all about coming together to express goodness. No one who crafted a cartoon in that tunnel was getting paid to do so–it was all a free, beautiful gift of expression and creativity. I left Toon Tunnel feeling both inspired and grateful to have experienced such a hidden gem of Calgary’s creative community.

We all need to see goodness.

Our inability to see what is true, good and beautiful in our city, even our world, is a direct call for us to go out and engage. To encounter new things, places and people–to strive to seek goodness and to find it. Perhaps like me, you’ll be surprised at what you might find when you simply go for a walk.

Dawson D.