Werklund Family Donation Sends a Powerful Message
For any non-profit organization, receiving a significant donation has to be good news. For Calgary-based Arts Commons, being the recipient of $75 million, also made the news across Canada.
In June 2024, Calgary philanthropist David Werklund and his family made a $75 million gift towards the transformation of Arts Commons. The Werklund family donation, the largest known philanthropic gift in the performing arts sector in Canadian history, was highly reported on in Calgary and across the country.
Although the donation will have an undeniable financial affect on the Arts Commons Transformation (ACT), the Werklund Family's generosity also conveys other powerful messages, says CEO Alex Sarian.
“The reputational significance and the other impacts of this gift for Calgary as a city have to be considered. We are immensely grateful that someone like Dave Werklund, who could have invested his money anywhere or kept it as generational wealth, chose to gift it to Arts Commons, for several reasons.”
“To have a municipal investment of this magnitude speaks volumes to the private sector and to the business community, encouraging them to come to the table.”
Another reason the donation is so welcome is the shared vision for the arts and a desire to make the arts more accessible. In leading Arts Commons and overseeing ACT, Sarian has always been deeply focused on the arts as an educational tool as well as transforming the arts sector to prioritize civic duty and artistic responsibility, a vision shared by Dave Werklund. Sarian often says he would like to see arts organizations be ‘less precious about the arts’.
“The arts are everywhere in our lives, it’s not just a specific performance on a stage . . . it needs to be about people first, as a tool of learning for life,” said Werklund in a Calgary Herald interview.
“We’re doing something no one has seen before and in a way that is tied to the Calgary community. We’re being innovative in a way that just enhances our reputation as one of the world’s most liveable cities and just continues to make our city a better place to live,” said Sarian.
The new infrastructure will have a strong focus on education and offer more dedicated learning spaces inside Arts Commons, including more training and development in arts-related fields.
There will be increased public accessibility with more opportunities to learn through special events, school trips and cultural festivals at the new Olympic Plaza.
Sarian hopes that a year from now we’ll hear about another organization receiving a similar-sized gift and that these donations become the national and regional benchmarks.
The funding will be used towards construction costs, create a Dave Werklund Education Wing, and establish four endowment funds towards education, accessibility, operations, and towards the name change in perpetuity.
