The Glenbow Museum has revealed fresh details about its long-awaited reopening in its transformed home, now christened the JR Shaw Centre for Arts and Culture.
The revamped institution, a centerpiece of Calgary’s cultural landscape, is slated to welcome the public in 2027. Originally closed in 2021 for a major overhaul of its 1970s downtown facility, Glenbow’s revitalisation project, part of the Glenbow Reimagined campaign, rethinks the museum as a cultural hub.
The eight-storey building will house 44 exhibitions, displays, and installations across approximately 325,000 square feet of public space, showcasing the museum’s 250,000-plus objects, artworks, and cultural artefacts.
The museum’s renewed vision centres on accessibility and community connection. A new glass-front entrance directly on Stephen Avenue will welcome visitors with clearer sight-lines into the museum’s interior, with multiple galleries focused on Indigenous histories, contemporary voices, and community-curated stories.
Among the innovative features planned for the reopened space are:
- Visible storage galleries, allowing visitors to see into art storage areas previously closed to the public
- A state-of-the-art Conservation Lab on the eighth floor, offering insight into how the museum preserves its collections
- New spaces dedicated to Indigenous and community-led exhibitions
Glenbow’s permanent free general admission policy is enabled by a landmark $35 million donation from the Shaw Family Foundation. This endowment makes Glenbow the first major public museum in Canada to eliminate general admission fees forever, reflecting the museum’s mission that arts and culture should be “a right, not a privilege.”
