Hello Quickdraw members, friends and partners,
 
As you probably know, our current building and longtime home at 351 11 Ave SW has been slated for redevelopment for quite some time, and Quickdraw has been on a year-to-year lease for the last several years. In that time, we’ve been looking for an affordable long-term space that will house our courses, workshops and production assistance, and most importantly, will be a welcoming and inviting home for Calgary’s animation community.
 
I’m incredibly excited to announce that Quickdraw has found that new long-term home. After a long search, a lot of planning, and some amazing effort on the part of our current and past board, we signed a lease last week on a space at 2011 10 Ave SW. The location is fantastic, just a couple of blocks from the Sunalta LRT station, and we have some great neighbours—we’ll be in the same building as the TRUCK Gallery and the West Village Theatre/Calgary Young People’s Theatre.
 
As for the space itself, we’ll be kicking off some renovations soon to make it a fully functional animation facility, with a well-equipped classroom, five production studios and more room for our always-expanding animation resource library. Best of all, most of that space—including the classroom and four of the studios—will be on the first floor, which will make our facilities much more accessible to persons with limited mobility.
 
It’s also going to be significantly more energy efficient, and with the systems we’re putting in, should be more comfortable in all weather. It’s important to us that Quickdraw’s space reflects the quality and enthusiasm of our membership, and I believe this new location will do just that.
 
The move will be coming up soon, which means Quickdraw will have limited operations over the summer, especially in terms of production. Summer seemed like the best time for the move, though, since it shouldn’t affect our fall or winter courses, and we’re making arrangements to ensure that our summer camps for kids and teens won’t be affected either.
 
If you have any questions about the new space or the process of the move, please don’t hesitate to contact me at peter@quickdrawanimation.ca. And if you’re interested in volunteering to help out with the movie, please send a note to Laura (programming@quickdrawanimation.ca) or Tyler (production@quickdrawanimation.ca); there’s a lot to do, and any help is always appreciated.
 
We’re in the process of planning a proper farewell to the current location, and will let you know as soon as we figure it out. But above all, I’m thrilled that Quickdraw has found a stable home that’ll last us through our fourth decade as an artist-run centre, and hopefully well beyond that.
 
With excitement,
Peter Hemminger
Executive Director
Quickdraw Animation Society