Our Story

The Alcove Centre for the Arts was founded in 2020 by Bethel Afework and Dennis Lee, two friends from university. They shared a vision for a creative social space where they could hang out with their friends and be free to indulge their creativity.

With a lack of public spaces that were accessible for this purpose or created a sense of community, they drafted a plan for a place that would provide all these things.

A place where one could indulge in creative activities, meet others with similar interests, and be accessible to a diverse group of people.

A Recreational Art Space.

A New Beginning

The Alcove began its operations by organizing pop-up events across different venues in Calgary to demonstrate to Calgarians what a Recreational Art Space would look like.

Bringing the Community Together

With the pandemic and social-distancing measures in effect, we came up with creative solutions to bring people together to enjoy art in a social and safe space.

  • Hosting outdoor events

  • Collaborative murals made up of mini canvases

This allowed individuals to collaborate while staying safe.

Partnerships

With over a dozen pop-ups spanning 1 day to 3 weeks under our belt and an increased demand for this vision, we have partnered with the City of Calgary and cSPACE for a pilot project and have opened our current Recreational Art Space in downtown Calgary.

Visit Us

244 7 Ave SW

Calgary, AB T2P 0W6

Hours

Monday & Tuesday: Closed

Wednesday to Friday: 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Saturday & Sunday: 12:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.