We Are Now a Charity: Introducing The BUMP Festival Arts Society
Sunday December 14, 2025
Since launching in 2017 as the Beltline Urban Murals Project, BUMP has grown into Calgary’s most expansive public art initiative, artist-led, community-powered, and rooted in the belief that public space is not neutral. Today, we’re proud to share an important milestone in that evolution:
BUMP is now officially a registered charity.
Welcome to The BUMP Festival Arts Society.
This shift reflects what BUMP has already become, and where we’re headed next. Support us today with a tax-deductible donation 🙂
From the beginning, BUMP has treated the city itself as a living site of artistic inquiry. Through murals, installations, sound, movement, and gathering, we work with artists to reshape how public space is experienced, as a place shaped by memory, identity, and collective imagination.
Each year, artists from Calgary and beyond bring new work into shared space, weaving stories of place, culture, and possibility into the city’s everyday life. Alongside the visual, BUMP creates platforms for dialogue and exchange through programs like the Urban Art Conference, guided mural tours, workshops, performances, and public gatherings.
Our Impact in 2025
In 2025 alone, BUMP commissioned 126 new public artworks across six Calgary neighbourhoods, working with 39 local, national, and international artists.
That work reflects our ongoing commitment to equity and representation:
- 41% of mural artists identified as BIPOC
- 22% identified as LGBTQIAS+
- 65% identified as women or non-binary
Across 30 free, all-ages public events, we engaged over 10,000 visitors, supported more than 100 local creatives, worked alongside 54 community and sponsor partners, and reached a major milestone of 450+ public artworks citywide since 2017. This is what sustained public art looks like in practice. You can dive into the numbers and highlights on our 2025 Community Impact report which is out now.
What It Means to Be a Charity
Becoming a registered charity allows BUMP to build on this work with greater intention and accountability. It means transparency and stewardship, reinvesting resources directly back into artists and communities and building lasting systems for public art rather than one-off moments.
For the public, it means your support goes toward artist fees, free programming, mentorship opportunities, and accessible art in shared spaces across the city. Your tax-deductible donation will contribute to a shared ownership of Calgary’s cultural life.
As The BUMP Festival Arts Society, we are committed to strengthening public art across Calgary and growing BUMP into a sustainable cultural force in Western Canada, one that supports artists long-term, builds meaningful partnerships, and continues to treat public space as something we shape together.
We invite you to be part of what comes next. Read our full 2025 Community Impact Report to see how this work adds up and how you can help sustain it.