Every other year 800 students from schools in the NE ‘Properties’ communities (Whitehorn, Pineridge, Rundle, Monterey Park, and Temple) come together at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium for a celebration of fine and performing arts.  Historically, the Properties have had an undeserved negative reputation in Calgary; this event came to be after Properties students expressed a desire to subvert expectations of their community and its inhabitants and start to re-write the narrative of who they and their families are, and how their community should be celebrated, not stigmatized.   In working to change the way that other people view them, Properties area students also change the way that they and their neighbours feel about themselves; raising the collective self-esteem of the inhabitants of the Properties areas has positive impacts on the mental health and wellbeing of the whole community making for healthier, happier individuals and families.

The majority of students in these communities have few opportunities to get involved in the arts in any form, so this biennial tradition is incredibly important to ensure that these young people have a chance to broaden their horizons, and help to develop a lifelong love of and respect for the arts.  With the financial situation of most of the families in the properties areas there is no charge to the students to participate or for community members to experience the performance; the intent is to remove all the barriers that traditionally exclude these individuals from being able to make the arts a part of their lives.

EducationMatters is proud to support this truly joyful celebration of arts, community, culture, and education that brings over 2,500 individuals together to experience the enthusiasm, creativity, and dreams of the Properties’ young people.