ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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The King Edward Hotel stands under the shadow of the Salvation Army on 9th Ave. in the East Village. The building, known as Calgary’s Home of the Blues, has been unused since 2004.

Cantos to become Calgary’s music king

City council approves $25 million

The City of Calgary gave final approval to spend $25 million towards building the National Cantos Music Centre.

The final go-ahead was granted on Jan. 25 after the city’s standing policy committee on community and protective services approved funding early last week.

“It means that we have a music centre here that is going to do a tremendous amount and act as an art incubator for musicians who choose to be working musicians in the city,” said Andrew Mosker, Cantos’ executive director. “We’re absolutely thrilled.”

The building will be located in the city’s East Village and will incorporate the King Edward Hotel.

Mosker said Cantos chose this location because of its historical value to Calgary.

The city’s funding approval is part of developing an internationally recognized culture hub in Calgary in relation to the 10-year plan proposed and supported by Calgary Arts Development.

“It’s a really important milestone,” said Erica Mattson, director of marketing and communications for Calgary Arts Development.

“The Cantos project is such a great example of everything we hoped to achieve with the art spaces strategy that Calgary Arts Development set out a couple of years ago.”

The 80,000-square-foot building will be unlike anything in Canada. It will house the already world-renowned historical Cantos music collection, the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame collection, recording studios, performance space and public radio broadcasting space.

“There really is nowhere an artist can go in Canada right now to do this kind of work that has this very unique collection associated with it,” Mosker said.

“We’ll be able to offer them resources they can’t find anywhere else – spaces, in which they can create, perform (and) nurture their talents.”

Mosker said once the Cantos project is complete, it will change the way the world perceives Calgary and increase the city’s international appeal.

“It’s fundamental to Calgary’s evolution,” Mosker said.

“Longer term, what it will mean for local, regional and national musicians is that there’s a place in this country that supports our sound and our stories as a country as far as music is concerned.”

Funds from the city make up only a fraction of the cost to build something of this stature.

This approval jump-started the process, but Mosker said fundraising is still needed.

He said Cantos has already seen support and interest from the provincial and federal governments. The centre is also looking for private funding.

Construction is expected to be underway by at least July 2012.

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