Future Space Direction & Roadmap

EMMEDIA has always maintained a two-part mandate: to support both the production and the presentation of media arts. We exist to provide an environment in which artists create and present work unhindered by technological, cultural, or administrative restrictions. We do this by promoting excellence in independent media art, expanding definitions of time-based media, increasing and diversifying our audiences, all while ensuring the sustainability of the organization remains resilient over the long-term.

For nearly five decades, this mandate has shaped the way artists in Calgary and beyond, experiment, exhibit, collaborate, and challenge definitions of media art. 

EMMEDIA’s physcial space is not separate from this mandate. It is directly tied to it. 

Our lease on our present space in Sunalta concludes in early 2027. Past experience, including the demolition of our previous home, has taught us that at these critical renewal junctures it is important for the organization to plan proactively rather than respond reactively under pressure.

In 2023 the board identified a Permanent Accessible Space as a strategic priority, and in 2024 we formed a committee to pursue a community-centered strategic plan.

In early 2025 extensive community consultation and workshops conducted in partnership with Parsons Dialogue highlighted specific gaps in our current home: limited and inflexible presentation capacity, constraints on production space, accessibility shortcomings, lack of dedicated social space, insufficient storage, and an unwelcoming entrance and street presence that does not fully reflect the vitality of our community and programming.These concerns speak directly to our ability to support artists and to promote excellence in production and presentation.

With those inputs in mind, in lat 2025 we worked with Bespoke Collective to examine four potentially viable space scenarios grounded in consultation with other arts centres across Canada.

The first scenario, which we call Art Homebase involves securing a permanent space under EMMEDIA’s full control. This approach offers us the greatest autonomy but also the greatest alignment with our mandate. It allows us to design high quality, welcoming production and presentation environments intentionally, expand accessibility broadly, create ideal conditions for community dialogue, and build the practical infrastructure necessary to support independent media artists at a high level for years to come. It also provides the stability required to assist artists in increasing their profile nationally and internationally, and to ensure the viability and sustainability of the organization long term.

A second scenario, Creative Cluster, would position EMMEDIA within a larger multi-tenant arts hub. This pathway offers flexibility and shared infrastructure. It reduces capital exposure and opens opportunities for collaboration. However, it also reduces autonomy in spatial design and governance, factors that have limited our ability to fully realize this model in the past.

We also explored a Digital Media Cooperative scenario, based on shared governance with peer organizations, and a Nomadic scenario, built around distributed programming without a permanent facility. Each offers certain advantages, flexibility, lower facility burden, collaboration, but also presents limitations in providing the stable production and presentation environment vital to our mandate.

After careful evaluation, the Board endorsed the Art Homebase as the preferred long-term direction because it most fully supports our mandate with the fewest compromises.

At the same time, the Creative Cluster pathway remains viable. Maintaining this option reflects governance discipline and we continue to explore opportunities here. 

It’s important for you to know that in either case we will not advance toward acquisition or a new long-term lease without meeting defined financial and operational readiness criteria.

The coming 12–18 months are dedicated to just that: feasibility planning. We are refining technical and functional requirements, modelling cost ranges, developing a long term operating framework, conducting a real-estate market scan, and stress-testing governance and staffing capacity. Exploratory conversations with potential cluster partners continues in parallel, and no commitments will be made before we are ready.

If feasibility confirms readiness, the longer horizon moves into capital planning and phased funding development, potentially leading to acquisition or a new long-term lease within a multi-year timeframe, but with clarity before we renew any lease in early 2027. 

This work began in early 2025 with community consultation. It continues now through disciplined, purposeful planning — and we are genuinely excited about where it is heading.

Our goal is to ensure that EMMEDIA continues to invest in media artists thinking, making, and sharing their work, while actively engaging in the broader socio-cultural environment in which we exist.

With your help, we have an incredible opportunity ahead to improve the quality and impact of our collective work. We hope you feel that too.

We will continue to share updates as this process evolves and welcome ongoing feedback from our community. In the meantime, please review the additional materials below or share your feedback — your input continues to shape our future:

• Review a detailed presentation shared in our last community workshop that includes all of the research findings and scenarios described in this update.
• Provide your feedback  so that we can continue to include your input in the process and outcomes ahead.

Community consultation and scenario planning for this process was made possible through the generous support of the Rozsa Foundation.