How can I find programs for learning about local culture?

Calgary, with its rich history from prairie settlements to a modern metropolis, offers a range of mobile apps and digital platforms that help residents and visitors dive deeper into the local culture. Below is a description of the most useful ones, each covering different aspects of city life — from museums and historical sites to festivals, community art projects, and indigenous traditions.

Glenbow Museum App

The Glenbow Museum is the largest museum in Western Canada. The mobile app (iOS, Android) offers:

  • Interactive audio guides for permanent and temporary exhibitions

  • Augmented reality for selected exhibits

  • Map positioning within the museum

  • Notifications about traditional craft workshops (beadwork, weaving)

  • Recordings of lectures on the history of indigenous peoples and the development of the oil business in Alberta

Heritage Park App

Heritage Park Historical Village has released an app with GPS-oriented audio tours that allows you to:

  • Choose a historical route (farm, railroad, school)

  • Automatically play commentary on life, crafts, and social realities of the 19th and 20th centuries

  • Learn interactively how to care for a horse in a stable or churn butter in a hand-operated separator

Tourism Calgary Official App

The official Tourism Calgary app (iOS, Android) covers:

  • Schedule of cultural events: Calgary Stampede, Calgary Folk Music Festival, etc.

  • “Where to eat” section with a map of national restaurants (Pueblo, molecular cuisine, Ukrainian)

  • Integrated walking routes along the Bow River with historic cafes and art spaces

Calgary Public Library App

The Calgary Public Library offers free access to:

  • Digital archives and virtual tours of the main building and branches

  • Video lectures by local artists in the “Culture” and “Art” sections

  • Online seminars on calligraphy of folk alphabets (Cyrillic, Latin)

  • Announcements of live performances in the library's conference room

  • QR scanning for augmented reality about architectural heritage

Eventbrite & Meetup

Although these are not local apps, both platforms allow you to:

  • Filter Calgary events by tags such as “culture,” “history,” “traditions,” and “crafts”
  • Find tours of 1920s cast iron skating rinks
  • Participate in workshops on felting prairie cowboy-style hats

Mauril (CBC & Radio-Canada)

A national app with a section called “Canada: Alberta” featuring:

  • Video clips from local TV news

  • Reports on life in Calgary

  • Podcasts about cultural initiatives

  • Daily “language challenges” explaining local slang (e.g., “YYC”)

Native Arts Program App (Glenbow)

A specialized app for Indigenous arts, including:

  • Interactive symbol dictionaries
  • 3D models of totem poles
  • Online master classes in carving and beadwork
  • Videos of ceremonies and explanations from elders

Calgary Folk Music Festival App

A seasonal app that allows you to:

  • Create your own playlists of live performances by ethno-jazz and folk groups
  • Purchase tickets for various stages
  • Participate in interactive music lessons: prairie waltz, Ukrainian-style polka

Stampede Go

The official Calgary Stampede app features:

  • An interactive map of the fairgrounds
  • Rodeo and concert schedules
  • Virtual tours of cowboy camps and themed areas
  • Augmented reality with reconstructions of events from the first stampede in 1912

Aboriginal Community Portal

The Canadian Council for Aboriginal Cultural Heritage's mobile web app for Calgary:

  • Interactive lectures

  • Craft fair announcements

  • Etiquette tips for participating in traditional ceremonies

  • Local events section with potlatch festival dates

Each of these apps allows you to explore a different aspect of local culture, from history and art to music and Indigenous traditions. Combining them in daily practice helps Calgary residents and visitors get a full cultural experience, broaden their horizons, and feel the uniqueness of this city.