Art is foundational to us as a species – but the ways in which we interact with both art and place are changing dramatically. Alex Sarian, President & CEO of Arts Commons – the largest cultural infrastructure project in Canada’s history – and author of The Audacity of Relevance, shares his perspective on how art and culture can be a positive force within cities and what it takes to remain relevant.

One of the things you explore in your work is the intersection of community and culture, but place is also central to this. How can arts be a force for positive change within a city?

Using culture as a force to build community is nearly impossible without talking about a sense of place. At their core, cultural experiences are about connecting people—to the greater world and to each other. Through these experiences, we gather with people of various lived experiences; we are exposed to perspectives beyond our own and challenged to think about things in new ways. This is the incomparable power of the arts: if we get it right, we are stewarding democratic spaces that are safe and brave, in which we are building trust with communities who may define cultural practices differently.

In your TEDx talk, you emphasize the need to shift from a mindset of the arts as transactional to the arts as a conduit for creating dialogue with audiences. What can place teams learn from your work about how to create moments of collective participation?

If we accept the idea that arts organizations have a civic responsibility to fulfil a societal need for collective participation, then we have a responsibility to create spaces that facilitate conversation; that level the playing field between the artist and audiences, and that blur the lines between creators and communities. For the last several decades, arts centres have positioned themselves as tastemakers for the privileged few and arbiters of excellence. Not surprisingly, their spaces reflected that ethos. Consumer behaviours have evolved drastically since those times, with the power dynamic shifting from the ‘distributor of culture’ not being nearly as powerful as the ‘consumer of culture,’ and yet this shift has occurred philosophically or programmatically—not physically. In the same way that the arts are striving for a more people-centred approach, so too must our thinking evolve about the spaces and places that house these activities.

Engaging in the arts as part of an audience is essential to learning how to open your mind to alternative perspectives and to challenge yourself to see things differently. At a time of increased polarisation, how can we create spaces for community to disrupt the digital echo chamber? 

The more the world pushes to isolate us, the stronger the need for a counter-driver to bring us together. We saw this hunger and urgency to gather as pandemic restrictions eased around the world, and we cannot lose this momentum. At the end of the day, what people seek the most is a sense of community, and technology has made it very easy for people to find a sense of belonging in socially isolating ways. The arts are, at their core, disruptors of echo chambers. By engaging with a single work of art surrounded by people with different lived experiences than our own, we open ourselves up to the act of ‘emotional referencing,’ which takes place when two people have different responses to the very same stimulus—a joke, a line in a play, lyrics in a song, paintings in a museum. The act of emotional referencing is essential for empathy to be experienced. That is ultimately why part of our work as arts facilitators is to remove as many barriers as possible so that the arts can truly help us build stronger communities.

Arts Commons is leading on the revitalization of Calgary’s downtown and its Olympic Plaza. Can you give us some insight into how you’re working to leverage arts programming to foster downtown regeneration?

We know that when downtowns are healthy, cities are healthy. That is why we’ve envisioned the largest performing arts campus in Canada, and have imbued it with a sense of porosity—programmatically and architecturally. By creating indoor and outdoor spaces where people can gather on their terms, we are inviting communities to influence us—rather than the age-old assumption that arts organizations will tell people how to engage with the arts. By challenging ourselves to create spaces where people can have cultural experiences without the need of purchasing a ticket, we are sending a strong message to citizens: you are co-creators in the development of this space.

We also know that there is an economic impact to placing cultural activities in the downtown core of a city, rather than on the outskirts. For every dollar spent within an arts venue, patrons are spending an additional $4-$6 on ancillary activities such as dinner, shopping, parking; an economic ripple effect that would not benefit a city nearly as strongly as activities taking place outside of a central hub of gathering. We also know that cultural activations play a strong role in contributing to a sense of safety and wellbeing, something that most global downtowns have been struggling with post-pandemic. It is for all these reasons, and many more, that incorporating an outdoor gathering space such as Olympic Plaza into the scope of the Arts Commons campus has been a game-changer—not just for our organization, but for the city of Calgary at large.

You talk about the importance of arts organizations being able to prove their relevancy – something that we know many place brand and marketing teams are also trying to tackle. Do you have any advice for how to create a strong argument to get people to engage, support, and fund your work when many of the benefits delivered like pride and community spirit are so intangible?

What I love the most about the topic of relevancy is that, much like trust, it must be earned and fought for every single day. It is never up to oneself to determine if they’re relevant - and should one finally be deemed relevant, there’s no guarantee that it will last. It is a never-ending process that demands constant attention, constant curiosity, constant self-reflection, and constant humility.

One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is this: what does the world need right now that we are uniquely positioned to deliver? The reason I love this question is because it forces us to be aware of those around us and reconcile their need with what we have been empowered to do through the lens of our mission. This sense of service is a driving factor. If we only ask ourselves the question partially (what does the world need right now?), we risk falling into the slippery slope that is ‘mission drift.’ Ultimately, what I find most powerful about relevancy is how local and fleeting it is. What is relevant in Calgary in 2025 may not be relevant in London in 2025. Indeed, what is relevant in Calgary in 2025 may not even be relevant in Calgary in 2030. That is why, as individuals and organizations, we must be prepared to embrace and lead change.

If we can figure out how different communities define or celebrate cultural identity, then we can, in conversation with them, figure out how to occupy a space of cultural relevancy to them. But to achieve that, we need to come from a place of inquiry. And for people who agree with me but say, ‘I can’t afford to activate this kind of thinking in my organization,’ I say this: you can’t afford not to. Relevance isn't only the right thing to do programmatically and philosophically, it's also pivotal to the future of revenue generation and the evolution of our business model.

Finally, how do you think place teams can work more effectively with their arts institutions to create thriving places for our communities?

When you look at your venues and programs, ask yourselves this: who isn’t coming and why? This question, more reflective than critical, invites us to be intentional about reaching out to communities who might have been historically excluded from our activities. After all, places and programming are all about bringing people together. The concept of “if you built it, they will come” is absolutely not true. Just like programs, places need to be designed with people in mind, intentionally and collaboratively. Maybe even one day, we will shift from designing ‘for’ people to designing ‘with’ people, and ultimately feel the incredible joys and impact that come with being truly relevant.

Wonderful. Thank you for sharing that with us, Alex – and we look forward to hearing more from you in Ottawa later this year. 

Join us at City Nation Place Americas this May 21-22^nd, where Alex Sarian will be sharing his perspective on how the cultural sector can strive for relevance in our communities and support place-led visions. See the full agenda here.