Downtown Dynamo

We are very proud that our Downtown Pedestrian Mall Manager, Shauna Quinn, was recently a finalist for the Mayor’s White Hat Award at the 51st Annual Calgary White Hat Awards. This honour is awarded to an individual committed to Calgary’s tourism industry with a minimum of five years related service.

Shauna’s background as an event planner has seen her involved in the successful execution of a number of very high profile events; six International Olympic Games, as well as local projects over the years including the 2008 JUNO Awards in Calgary.

Since she started with the Calgary Downtown Association in November of 2011, she has used her creativity and incredible work ethic to bring a number of unique items to the downtown core, helping make it a vital and interesting place to be.

This innovative powerhouse has worked with various partners to bring us AlleyOop, An Operascape, which offered Calgarians a chance to experience opera in an unconventional environment; a Street Frostival in collaboration with Market Collective; the Downtown Book Market; a Stephen Ave Celebration Site for the 2012 Summer Olympics; and most recently, the first ever POW! Parade of Wonders in conjunction with the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

Her love of arts and culture is prominent in many of her endeavors, as is her drive to make them accessible to the public.

Some of her more recent projects include the Stephen Avenue Walk of Fame (Grate Portraits), which honoured a number of people who have helped shape our great city.  Local artist Mandy Stobo of Bad Portraits fame was commissioned for this project, which is part of a multi-tiered small litter reduction initiative.

Shauna was also instrumental in supporting another local artist, Daniel J. Kirk’s, Cavernous Isolata iii, convincing him to live for five days in a glass box at the corner of Stephen Avenue and 2nd Street SW to paint.

Safety and crime prevention are major components of her role as the DPM Manager. She recently completed her CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) level one training, and CPTED principles have been incorporated into many of her programs on Stephen Avenue including the popular Street Piano.  Shauna will be outplaying the concept this year with an art commissioned dueling piano by local restorer and friend Jesse Moffatt.

Shauna also helps manage the Off the Wall graffiti removal team, as well as Downtown Calgary’s HOST (Hospitality Outreach Safety Team) Program, which help keep our streets safe and clean.

The International Placemakers Leadership Council, which is an initiative spearheaded by the Project for Public Spaces (PPS), has recently accepted Shauna as a council member. PPS is a non-profit planning, design and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities. Look forward to seeing more new approaches in coming months that will help Calgarians transform our public spaces into “vital places that highlight local assets, spur rejuvenation and serve common needs.”

The scope of her contribution to our City is too large to sum up in one short blog post, so let’s just say we are very lucky to have such a dedicated and accomplished Calgarian on our team!

Tagged as: art, Downtown Pedestrian Mall, Shauna Quinn, Stephen Avenue Mall, Stephen Avenue Walk, Tourism Calgary, White Hat Awards