Community

Our community engagement priorities come from the heart.

The Edmonton Convention Centre is best known as one of North America’s top performing convention centres, hosting over half a million guests annually and generating over $30 million in economic impact. While attracting national conventions, meetings, and events to Edmonton, the Edmonton Convention Centre also demonstrates an unwavering commitment to building local community capacity.

Homeless Connect

When most people think of the Edmonton Convention Centre, their initial thought may be of a building; a meeting place, exhibition hall, or banquet venue. But we’re more than that. As a community hub, the Edmonton Convention Centre provides service to the public — in this case by leveraging our space and event expertise to help Edmontonians who might be marginalized by their circumstances.

Homeless Connect is one of the most important events the Edmonton Convention Centre has the privilege of hosting on a bi-annual basis. Started in Edmonton in 2008, Homeless Connect is perhaps most easily thought of as a “Trade Fair” for over 1,400 guests who are either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

The event is spearheaded by Homeward Trust, the organization responsible for implementing Edmonton’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, established in 2009. Visit our blog for more information on this important community initiative.

Culinary

With 11 Red Seal chefs and a world-class kitchen, the Edmonton Convention Centre is uniquely positioned to not only help mentor the next generation of Edmonton’s chefs, but give back to our community by feeding those in need. Executive Chef Serge Belair and his team can always be found making a difference in our community. Some of the amazing things they’ve done include:

Community Medicine Wheel Garden

In 2015, the Edmonton Convention Centre unveiled a Community Medicine Wheel Garden on the rooftop of the Riverview Room. Overlooking Edmonton’s River Valley, the garden is designed to be universal in its teachings and be a place for people to meet, share, and connect.

Throughout time, indigenous communities have worked with medicine wheels for sacred rituals, ceremonies, everyday blessings, cleansing, and visions. They gave thanks, asked for guidance, used intuition, and understood their world on many levels.

All Edmontonians and visitors to our city are encouraged to walk through the garden and learn of its teachings. This garden belongs to the people, and the Edmonton Convention Centre is inviting groups to utilize this space to enrich our community.

Local Art Initiatives

If you’ve ever walked in our doors, you’ve seen the gorgeous waterfall flowing gently in the lobby. Maybe you’ve posed for a shot in front of “Paskwamostos”, the 12-foot stainless-steel bison that stands guard over the River Valley.

Strewn across the convention centre and our surrounding area, artwork of all mediums, shapes, and sizes stands ready to steal your attention and spark up a conversation.

But when it comes to the Edmonton Convention Centre’s artwork, there’s a whole lot more to these flourishes of colour and splashes of inspiration than meets the eye. Woven into every tapestry, molded into each enormous sculpture, and hidden behind all those dribbles of paint are the stories of Edmontonians from virtually every walk of life.

Take, for example, the pARTnership program. Every year, the Edmonton Public and Catholic School boards partner together with us to curate student-created pieces for a one-of-a-kind showcase. Around 45 from each school board are chosen to be displayed in the convention centre’s highest traffic areas, where over half a million visitors will have a chance to marvel at the creativity of our city’s young and aspiring artists.

We share memories and condolences — like the Inukshuk erected in memory of David Kootook, a man whose bravery helped save the life of a medivac pilot in Yellowknife while costing him his own. Part memorial, part art installation, this wonderful monument by Edmonton artist Wayne McKenzie stands as a reminder of the values we all share.

The “DREAM. Big” plaza, created by Donald Moar, celebrates contemporary artistic excellence while also putting our city’s passion for culture, beauty, and innovation in plain sight for the world to see.

From budding students to renowned artists, we take pride in giving local talent a stage to showcase their work. Sometimes that stage is enormous — for example, the three gigantic murals that adorn the walls of Hall D, an homage to the North Saskatchewan River by beloved Alberta artist Clay Ellis.

Consider the towering 12-foot bison crafted by international Canadian sculptor Joe Fafard that is now perched outside overlooking the river valley vistas. Year-round, we see locals and jet-setting tourists alike stopping to snap a photo or pose for a memento in front of these works, taking a piece of Alberta home with them.

It is our partnerships, big and small, that help make art happen here. Read more by visiting Art in Unconventional Spaces.

Second Helping Program

Did you know we serve over 250,000 meals annually and donate nearly 3,000 kilograms of leftover food to Edmonton’s Food Bank? We were the first organization in Edmonton to join the Second Helping Program and work closely with Alberta Health Services and our local food bank to ensure that there is no waste. Watch the video below to see this fantastic community partnership in action.

Other Initiatives

Big or small, the Edmonton Convention Centre and its employees always look for ways to give back to our community. Other community initiatives include:

Community Request

The Edmonton Convention Centre supports a variety of community organizations and events. Please fill out the below form to request support from our team.