About Us

Vision

Cantos is a national catalyst for discovery, innovation and renewal through music.

Mission

To create engaging music experiences for the com­munity using our unique collection, our cultural spac­es and our expertise.

Where We've Been

Cantos Music Foundation was created on January 1, 2003 from the marriage of two local organizations: TriumphEnt Foundation and Cantos Music Museum.

TriumphEnt Foundation, founded in 1990, presented programming centered specifically on the organ fam­ily of instruments including the Calgary International Organ Festival.

Cantos Music Museum, founded in 1997, focused on developing a world-class collection of musical instru­ments and related materials.

Where We Are

Cantos is an amazing collection. Cantos is engaging programs. And Cantos is community.

Since 2003, we have nurtured and developed strong partnerships with a myriad of Calgary-based organi­zations, both small and large. Today Cantos brings the magic of music to approximately 30,000 people annually including 10,000 school children.

Using our world-renowned collection of more than 700 musical artifacts, we offer programs ranging from teaching kids math through music to using mu­sic to help seniors with Alzheimer's coax memories of days gone by.

Where We're Going

In 2006-2007, Cantos Music Foundation undertook internal and external studies to assess its position within the context of Calgary's cultural preservation and arts education. Foundation board members and Cantos Music Foundation staff contemplated new and innovative initiatives to share the Collection - its musical energy, innovations and history. Focus groups included stakeholders, educators, communi­ty leaders and a diversity of Calgarians. Participants discussed new strategic directions as well as gallery and program expansion possibilities, including music as a healing force physically, mentally and emotion­ally.

Cantos' beautiful and culturally significant music col­lection holds stories that resonate beyond Calgary, across Alberta, and throughout Canada - even world­wide. A national music centre for Canada in a new facility gained traction among Calgary supporters.

In 2008, Cantos began the process of creating this national music centre by submitting an expression of interest to redevelop the historic site of the King Edward Hotel - a musical icon in itself. The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation was impressed by our proposal and since has been working closely to make the Cantos at the King Eddy project a catalyst for the redevelopment of the East Village.

Cantos recently selected Brad Clo­epfil and Allied Works of as our project architect after a worldwide competition.

With offices in Portland, Oregon and New York, New York, Allied Works Architecture is engaged in a wide variety of cultural, commercial and residential proj­ects across North America.

In recent years, Allied Works has focused on impor­tant cultural and educational buildings within ur­ban centers, arts districts and academic campuses. Completed projects include the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, a major addition to the Seattle Art Museum, the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Texas, and the redesign of 2 Columbus Circle for the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan. Most recently, the firm completed a renovation and expansion of the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Current commissions include the Clyfford Still Muse­um in Denver, Colorado, a new animation studio for Pixar in Emeryville, California, two major residential projects - the Dutchess County Residence and the Hudson Street Loft in New York, and master planning for the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon and the Caldera Arts Foundation in Central Oregon.

The City of Calgary recently committed $25-million to the National Music Centre project, ten per cent of which will be released in 2010 to help continue design work and fundraising for the project. The rest of the funds will come through once Cantos has received similar commitments from the provincial and federal governments as well as corporate and individual supporters.