The Bows is an artist-run centre in Mohkinstsis/Calgary, Alberta, Treaty 7 Territory. Our core goals are: to support the development, creation, and presentation of new work by early-career artists; to provide affordable studio space for Calgary-based artists; and to broaden the reach and scope of contemporary art in Calgary, with the ultimate, if ambitious, aim to expose Calgarians to artistic work that explores pressing contemporary issues. We work toward these goals with an artist-centric approach that prioritizes the wholesale support of artists; creative and radical uses of spaces outside of the gallery; and a curatorial focus on projects and practices that dovetail with the specific socio-political, cultural, colonial, economic,and Indigenous histories and contexts of Alberta. Ultimately, The Bows strives to empower and support artists to imagine radical futures, and to invite those inside and outside of our community to be co-conspirators in realizing such futures.

We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and Calgary Arts Development. Recent project funders include the Rozsa Foundation, the Calgary Foundation, Alberta Culture and Tourism, and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and ongoing support from Resolve Photo. We are a grateful recipient of one of the inaugural Lacey Prizes.