Your public art, in people’s hands
Put every mural, sculpture, and installation in your city into a beautiful guide people actually use.
Live in Calgary with Calgary Arts Development
- 600+ artworks
- Every city ward
- Connected to city open data
What your community gets
A map-first guide in every visitor’s browser. Nothing to install.
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Opens on a map
Nobody experiences a collection alphabetically. The guide starts on the city itself.
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A page for every artwork
Photos, artist credit, and the story behind each piece.
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Self-guided tours
Curated routes with turn-by-turn navigation, followed at the visitor’s own pace.
What your team gets
Publish, moderate, and archive without a developer in the loop.
- Explore collections management →
Catalog & archive
Museum-grade records for every work, with full export at any time.
- Explore community contributions →
Community contributions
Photo and story submissions land in a moderated queue. Nothing publishes without your approval.
- Explore analytics & reporting →
Analytics & reporting
Engagement, contributions, and care: the numbers a program takes to council.
Live in Calgary
Calgary Arts Development runs the city’s whole collection on one live guide.
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Every city ward — Murals, sculptures, and installations across the whole city.
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Connected to open data — The guide reads City of Calgary open data, so civic geography stays current on its own.
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Found from anywhere — Every artwork has its own page, reachable from search.
Every collection has a steward
The guide is shaped around your mandate.
- For cities & arts councils →
Cities & arts councils
The whole program in residents’ hands, with the numbers for council.
- For tourism & destination →
Tourism & destination
Self-guided art tours visitors keep, with turn-by-turn navigation.
- For festivals & BIAs →
Festivals, BIAs & arts groups
A permanent, credited home for every mural.
- For campuses →
Campuses
Wayfinding for visitors, an archive for the record, and visibility for donors.
What happens after you book a demo
Bring your collection in whatever shape it’s in. We do the rest.
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Kickoff
- Bring a spreadsheet, an open-data feed, or nothing but photos
- Walk through the guide and the admin together
- Onboarding scoped to your collection and the state of its data
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The build
- We migrate and enrich your records
- Your name, your brand, your own domain
- Your team learns the admin in under an hour
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Launch & beyond
- A map-first guide, live in every visitor’s browser
- You publish; we operate everything else
- Hosting, support, and improvements for years, not a season
Infrastructure, not campaigns
A one-off build starts dying at launch. We operate every guide we ship: hosting, maintenance, and improvements, for years, not a season.
FAQs
What is Civic Collection?
A map-first guide to your public art collection: every artwork with its photos, story, and artist credit, plus self-guided tours, backed by a museum-grade catalog your team keeps current. We design, build, and operate every guide.
Who is it for?
City public art programs and arts councils, tourism and destination organizations, festivals, BIAs and independent arts groups, and campuses: anyone stewarding a collection of public art.
Where is it live today?
Civic Collection runs the Calgary Public Art Guide for Calgary Arts Development: live since 2025, with 600+ artworks across every city ward, connected to City of Calgary open data. Read the case study.
What does it cost?
No two collections are alike, so we don’t publish a price list. Onboarding is scoped to your collection, and an ongoing subscription covers hosting, support, and improvements. For the full picture of what drives the number, read what it costs to run a public art guide.
How is this different from a GIS map or a tour app?
A DIY map or tour builder puts pins on a screen, but there is no catalog underneath: no condition history, no artist records, no export, and someone on your team has to keep it alive. A guide pairs the public map with museum-grade records, and we operate it for years, not a season. For the full landscape, read how to evaluate public art mapping software.
Do we own our data?
Always. Your catalog is yours, built on museum documentation standards, and you can export it in full at any time.
Can the public contribute?
Yes. Photo and story submissions, suggested edits, and proposed works all land in a moderated queue, and nothing publishes without your approval.
How long until we launch?
It depends on your collection and the state of its data. Onboarding is scoped up front, and we do the heavy lifting of migrating and enriching your records. Your team learns the admin in under an hour.
Do we need developers?
No. Editors manage artworks, artists, and tours through a simple admin, no developer in the loop.
Notes from the field
Practical writing on stewarding public art.
Why the Map Comes First
Cities invest in public art, but struggle to help people find it. Here's the case for opening the guide directly to a map, and what your team can learn from seeing the whole collection in context.
How to Evaluate Public Art Mapping Software
Most programs never run a formal procurement for deciding on a public art mapping software. Here's what to compare, some details on cost, and questions you should ask yourself before you decide.
What It Costs to Run a Public Art Guide
Every conversation about a public art guide reaches the budget question, and it deserves a straight answer. We don't publish a price list, and this essay explains what would be on it if we could: a scoped onboarding priced by the state of your records, a subscription that keeps the guide running for years, and the places programs usually find the money.
