The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Calgary City Council to pull the plug on the Calgary Arts Development Authority after the agency blew more than $65,000 on an art project that allows people to call a phone line and listen to the sound of the Bow River.

“If someone wants to listen to a river, they can go sit next to one,” said Kris Sims, Alberta Director for the CTF. “But the City of Calgary should not force taxpayers to pay for this.”

The project, titled Reconnecting to the Bow, was funded to the tune of $65,194 in taxpayer money and will run from September 2024 to December 2025, according to documents obtained by the CTF.

📢NEW:

Taxpayers forced to pay for project that telephones Bow River

City of Calgary should scrap it's arts slush fund after it spent $65K to telephone the Bow River

If phoning a river floats your boat, ok, but don’t force your neighbour to pay for your art choices… pic.twitter.com/spkRazBE0y

— Kris Sims (@kris_sims) June 19, 2025

This isn’t even the first time this idea has surfaced.

The river hotline is a repeat of a similar art installation first deployed in 2014. But this time around, bureaucrats insisted on a local 403 area code for the number instead of a toll-free 1-855 line, citing a desire to “give the authority back to the Bow.” One email claimed the toll-free number gave off the impression of a “proprietary and commercial relationship with the river.”

Emails also show that the City of Calgary explicitly requested its logo not appear on any displays or advertisements for the project — an indicator of how controversial the installation was expected to be, even among city staff.

Internal city emails admitted the project “may not be received well, perceived as a waste of money or simply foolish.”

“That city hall employee was pointing out the obvious,” said Sims. “This is a foolish waste of taxpayers’ money, and this slush fund should be scrapped.”

Taxpayers fork over nearly $19 million annually to fund the Calgary Arts Development Authority — about the same amount paid in total property taxes by 7,000 Calgary households.

“Artists should work with willing donors for their projects instead of mooching off city hall and forcing taxpayers to pay for it,” Sims added.

The CTF is calling for the complete dismantling of the Calgary Arts Development Authority, citing the phone-to-a-river fiasco as yet another example of tone-deaf public spending during a time of rising costs and economic pressure.

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