/Information

/Mandate & History

/MANDATE
Stride supports artistic pursuits that combine innovative creative expression with informed critical discourse and promotes recognition of emerging, mid-career and established artists by providing opportunities for community engagement with contemporary art practices.

/VALUES

                        Space
                        Time
                        Recognition
                        Independence
                        Discourse
                        Expression

/MISSION
Stride provides gallery exhibition spaces and presentation opportunities for diverse art projects that stimulate a reconsideration and reframing of conventional points of view.

/VISION
Stride envisions a curious and engaged society that recognizes contemporary artists for their commitment to critical discourse and creative expression and their contributions to community and culture.

/BRIEF HISTORY
The Stride Art Gallery Association was founded by artists Colleen O’Neill, Mary Scott and Don Corman in 1985. The gallery’s original mandate promoted professional artists whose work was experimental in nature and whose practices were not readily recognized in commercial or public galleries.  Incorporated as a non-profit society in 1986, Stride has been a vital exhibition venue and active player in the contemporary art community in Calgary and Canada for 25 years. In 1990 Stride began programming the +15 Window Space in the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts and in 1997 Stride moved to its current location on MacLeod Trail, establishing the Project Room as an exhibition space primarily dedicated to time-based and installation-intensive exhibitions. Through the 1990s, Stride responded to the needs of artists and the community with the development of a comprehensive publishing program built upon artist-driven and exhibition-focused publications.  In 2010, we introduced our annual catalogue, which compiles the visual documentation and critical writing for each exhibition throughout the programming year in a perfect-bound, beautifully designed book.

Stride’s programming year typically consists of six exhibitions in each of our three spaces, the Main Space, Project Room & the +15 Window Space, totaling 18 exhibitions per year, though on occasion we have hosted exhibitions that span the full gallery space, which reduces the total number of exhibitions per year, but allows for exciting programming possibilities.  Every exhibition is celebrated with a public reception and many also feature an artist talk or workshop.

Stride is a provincially incorporated non-profit association and holds registered charity status.  Governed by a Board of Directors currently consisting of nine members, Stride is operated day-to-day by a staff of two employees, the Gallery Director and the Assistant Director. Stride is operated out of a street-level storefront unit in the historical Bell Block in downtown Calgary.  During exhibitions this location is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 5pm.  The +15 Window Space is located in the  nearby Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts and is accessible to the public 24 hours per day year round. 


/FUNDING
Stride Gallery is funded in part by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Calgary Arts Development, the Canada Council for the Arts Program and Operations Assistance for Artist-Run Centres and the generous support of the Calgary community.


/OTHER SERVICES
The Stride Gallery's Board of Directors and staff are resource people for the community. Relevant services we provide include:

Contact the gallery Director from more information: director@stride.ab.ca

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/Staff & Board Directory



/DIRECTOR — LISA BENSCHOP
Lisa Benschop is an artist and arts worker happy to be living in Calgary.  Alberta raised, she earned her Bachelor of Arts with Honours in English from the University of Alberta in 2000.  After the completion of this degree Benschop moved to Toronto, where she worked in the non-profit sector and studied creative writing (fiction) and photography (darkroom processes).  She began studies at the Alberta College of Art & Design in 2004 and earned her BFA with Distinction (sculpture) in 2008.  Her artistic practice is organized as the L. S. Benschop Institute for the Preservation & Veneration of Imagination & Nostalgia.  As Sole Operator & Agent of the Institute, Benschop enacts a multidisciplinary performance and makes work that includes oil painting, works on paper, photography, installation and correspondence.  As Director at Stride, Benschop builds on a background of non-profit administration, leadership, and dedication to artist-run culture.

email. director@stride.ab.ca

 

/ASSISTANT DIRECTOR — LARISSA TIGGELERS
Larissa Tiggelers is an emerging Calgary based artist. Upon completing two years in the Fine Arts program at Grande Prairie Regional College she transferred to the Alberta College of Art + Design to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction. Currently Tiggelers’ has two streams to her artistic practice one in painting and the other in sculpture.

email. info@stride.ab.ca

 

/BOARD OF DIRECTORS


/ADVISORY BOARD (Ambassadors)
In addition to our Board of Directors, Stride Gallery also has a national network of mid-career, professional artists who consult with the gallery regarding unique opportunities across Canada.

 

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