The Confluence to undergo 1st major renovation in over 2 decades

The last major renovation at The Confluence took place in 2002, and some of the exhibits haven't been renewed since the 1990s.

That's about to change with a major redevelopment of the cultural centre's exhibits.

Phase 1 is now underway.

The goal is to better represent the full history of the site and surrounding land.

"This is only the second major renovation in 40 years, said Jennifer Thompson, president of The Confluence: Historic Site & Parkland. "Best practice for exhibits is three to five years, so these exhibits have been in place for a really, really long time.

"It was time to change."

Calgary Eyeopener8:42Confluence renos

It's been decades since the Confluence Historic Site has overhauled some of its exhibits. We hear about the makeover now underway.

The Confluence, formerly Fort Calgary, received its new name in the spring, which set the stage for a rebrand to broaden its narrative and represent more of its history. That's what the new exhibits will address.

Phase 1 of the redevelopment will involve a new 900-square-foot exhibit about Blackfoot culture and history and will be called Ki'pait'apiiyssinnooni (Our Way of Life). Phase 2 will include exhibits featuring the Stoney Nakoda, Tsuut'ina and Métis nations. Phase 3 will involve exhibits about colonization and the establishment of Fort Calgary, the North West Mounted Police and industrialization.

"This place had one identity for a really long time, which was Fort Calgary. So the story surrounded that one entity — and the fort was only here for 38 years when it actually did exist — and the fort is not here anymore," she said.

"To continue to be recognized by one event was really not an honest reflection of what happened here. And we certainly heard that from the Indigenous community members that we spoke with."  

The redevelopment is over eight years in the making. Thompson says an Indigenous advisory council has helped support the changes, along with a new full-time curator, Ahkoinnimaki Star Crop Eared Wolf.

Crop Eared Wolf is an artist and member of the Kainai Nation, part of the Blackfoot Confederacy. She has extensive experience in museum and art curation with a focus on Indigenous history and art. For the past year, she's been interviewing and gathering knowledge from elders and Blackfoot people, and has been working with Indigenous artists on the new Blackfoot exhibit.

"It's exciting and definitely a step forward in helping to Indigenize and decolonize the museum institutions themselves, as throughout history, the western side of the institutions are always telling our story for us," she said. "By hiring Indigenous people, we get to tell the story."

"I'm grateful to be able to be the person representing the Blackfoot people and giving them a voice."

Crop Eared Wolf says the old exhibits are being dismantled, and fabrication of new exhibits is underway by contributors and commissioned artists. 

New staff and board bring new vision

Thompson says there have been challenges that led to the delayed redevelopment, including a lack of funding and an identity crisis.

"This place has so many different layers of history and it's gone through a lot of different iterations in its time and its contemporary time as an organization. And so certainly that creates a little bit of a hodgepodge of expectations of what this place and this site should and could be," Thompson said.

Differing ideas of how the cultural centre should represent its history were put forward.

"That also created a little bit of an identity crisis," she said.

Thompson says an almost brand new staff and board of directors have started within the past couple of years with a focused vision for the site.

"So now that we have that dialed, we're able to lean in and create a deeper sense of connection to this place through exploring the stories that we know existed here." 

The entire project will cost $5 million, covered by private donations as well as municipal and provincial funding.

The Confluence will remain open during construction. Phase 1 exhibits are set to debut in the spring of 2025. Phases 2 and 3 will open in the next two to four years.