Old planetarium possible site for art gallery, city agrees

The iconic downtown Calgary building that used to be the Centennial Planetarium moved a step closer to being transformed into a contemporary art gallery on Friday.

City officials have agreed to work with Contemporary Calgary to explore a plan to repurpose the vacant 1967landmark at Seventh Avenue and 11th Street S.W. as a public gallery for visual arts.

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A sign of a great city is the strength of its cultural life. This Expression of Interest from Contemporary Calgary has the potential to enhance the diversity of arts and culture offerings for Calgarians, the community livability for downtown residents and the world-class experience we deliver to visitors, said Sarah Iley, the citys manager of culture within the department of recreation.

Contemporary Calgary is the recent amalgamation of the Art Gallery of Calgary, the Institute for Modern and Contemporary Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Calgary.

It is still in the process of reorganizing into a single organization, the city said.

The modernist concrete planetarium was built to mark the centenary of Canadas confederation.

In the 1980s it became a science centre. The TELUS World of Science vacated the building in 2011, reopening as theTELUS Spark Science Centre at 220 St. George's Drive N.E.