Allied Arts Council celebrates accomplishments

By Lethbridge Herald on March 28, 2026.

By Alexandra Noad

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter- Lethbridge Herald

The Allied Arts Council (AAC) celebrated their achievements over the past year and welcomed four new honourary members at their annual general meeting held at CASA on Thursday evening.

Casa saw an all-time high of attendees totaling over 164,000 at various events held at the space.

One of these events, Upside Downtown Concert Series, was recognized with the Event of the Year Award at the Downtown BRZ Awards held in August.

A new event to conclude the Concert Series was launched in 2025-Upside Downtown: Pop Up Get Down drew a crowd over 1,700 in its inaugural year.

Steven Foord, executive director for ACC says this is a prime example of what’s possible when spaces are activated through the arts, but it’s really the people behind the scenes who make the success happen.

“Success always comes down to people, we are incredibly fortunate to have a team that is not only skilled professionally, but (also) deeply passionate about what they do.”

Honourary ACC Membership is given to individuals who personify the council’s mission and have a multi-faceted relationship with the ACC. They are given lifelong privileges of voting members.

This year’s Honourary Membership recipients include: Amanda Berg, operations manager for the Faulty of Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge and was appointed ACC president for ACC in 2017; Kris Hodgson-Bright, instructor for the Multimedia and Digital Communications and Media programs at Lethbridge Polytechnic and was appointed ACC President in 2013; Jen Schmidt-Rempel, who currently serves on city council and was previously appointed as ACC President in 2015; Ian Randell, a Lethbridge based multidisciplinary artist, arts educator and community arts advocate.

The evening concluded with a presentation from Charlene Davidson, executive director of the Community Foundation of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta who presented information on the organization and provided an update on the ACC Endowment Fund. In 2018, $10,000 was placed in the fund and has since tripled. As of December 2025, the Endowment Fund has $33,000 thanks to continued support by community members and partners. $19,000 of that was raised in 2025.

The ACC is looking forward to the coming year, which has already started off with the bang as they are putting the finishing touches on the renovations suite of eight studio spaces, located in the upstairs of Casa and will be the first artist studios in the downtown core in over a decade.