Glenbow: A Museum Reimagined

A Transformative Legacy

In 1947, life changed irrevocably for Eric Harvie when he got the call that Leduc Number 1 had struck oil—and big. As a lawyer practicing across Alberta in the 1940s, Harvie frequently accepted mineral rights as payment for his services. When oil was discovered on these lands, he became one of the wealthiest men in the world overnight.

For Harvie, the pressing question was not how he could enjoy the immensity of privilege that comes from such wealth, but rather how he could give back. Quickly, Harvie established himself as a philanthropist and renowned collector with a particular vision for the people of Alberta: to bring together artworks, artifacts, and belongings from diverse cultures across present-day Canada and around the world, sharing a different kind of wealth—the vast range of human expression, culture, values, and stories. These are the very elements that shape us, our histories, and where we will go from here.

Harvie’s vision was to provide access to these resources for the peoples of our region, ultimately gifting his immense collection to the Government of Alberta in 1966 to establish what is today Glenbow (formally named the Glenbow-Alberta Institute). But that’s not all: Harvie also gave $5 million to establish an operating endowment for Glenbow to ensure stability well into the future. The Province matched this $5 million, thereby laying the foundation for Glenbow’s invested assets. Today, Glenbow’s assets under management are on track for a value of $70 million, doubled by a landmark $35 million gift of two endowments by the Shaw Family Foundation in 2022. These funds are the museum’s second largest asset by value after its priceless collections, today about 250,000 items strong. This remains one of the largest funds under management by a cultural organization in Canada.

Investing With Our Values

In 2020, Glenbow embarked on a multi-year journey to revolutionize every aspect of its organization. This plan was instigated by an aging building, a 50-year-old home putting collections and public at risk, and woefully designed for 21st century expectations. The museum is currently completing a $130 million renovation of its building, set to reopen as the JR Shaw Centre for Arts & Culture—an example of effective and economical infrastructure reuse, designed to focus on community need and belonging. But this transformation is about much more than a building; it’s about how every element of the museum can serve the diverse needs of the peoples originally supported by Harvie’s vision. What would it mean to not only leverage our building to improve the public experience of arts and culture, but also every asset at the museum?

This question naturally led us to a robust discussion of our investment strategy and ultimately to our transition to impact investing. In 2022, Glenbow approached Grayhawk and Rally Assets, a boutique firm with long-term expertise in impact investing, with a proposition: to help Glenbow transition its portfolio so that our assets further align with our values as an organization—the very values Harvie sought in his founding of the museum. Our goal is to establish Glenbow as a bellwether for cultural funds across Canada, demonstrating the impact of directing every available resource toward improving quality of life across our community. We’re not choosing between impact and financial returns; through our partnership with Grayhawk, we’re committed to achieving both positive financial returns and meaningful societal impact. By demonstrating to our sponsors and donors that we are responsible stewards of capital, we aim to differentiate the Glenbow giving experience, ensuring our supporters understand we are achieving more with their contributions.

Our focus on key thematic areas—arts and culture; Indigenous economic development; employment; community development; education and training; affordable real estate; mental health; and climate change—along with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, serves as our blueprint for Grayhawk and Rally to amplify our donors’ impact on the community, creating opportunities while meeting our financial objectives.
Through Grayhawk, we’ve made meaningful investments such as in KKR Global impact fund II, which will help accelerate the transition from “brown to green” assets and business models, including an investment in a liquid cooling solution for high-density data centers and another focused on sustainable agriculture.

This journey is still in its infancy, with 16.3% of our managed assets directed toward impact investing as of Q2 2024. However, that percentage is growing annually, and the examples above encourage us to stay the course. What began as an abstract discussion of directing our funds toward particular values is now unfolding in the real world, in real time, with measurable supports for those very values confirming our direction to further commit to this strategy.

Two points stand out to the museum today and are worthy of your consideration:

• First, the importance of overcoming the false narrative that your assets cannot “do well and do good” at the same time. Increasingly, we see global results demonstrating the health of returns within the impact market, stripping away any reason to hesitate in choosing values over returns.
• Second, to acknowledge that we are living in a turbulent world with overwhelming generational challenges, and each of us has a responsibility to help overcome these challenges with whatever tools we have at our disposal. For you, as for Glenbow, those tools may be assets under management that can be directed toward measurable community impact, while also generating responsible returns.

While the world has shifted immeasurably since Harvie’s 1947 windfall, we at Glenbow like to think we are adapting to his original challenge: to give back according to our means. Our circumstances and opportunities are different, but so is this moment uniquely our own. We hope Glenbow’s journey can inspire you to consider the same.

About Glenbow

Founded in 1966 as an independent, non-profit art museum in Calgary, Alberta, Glenbow cares for over 250,000 artworks and historical artifacts, including Western Canada’s largest public art collection, diverse Indigenous cultural collections, and historical belongings from around the world. For nearly 60 years, Glenbow has been integral to Calgary’s arts and culture scene, enhancing community access through its collections, exhibitions, and programs.

Glenbow Reimagined is a bold project to transform the museum’s 50-year-old building on historic Stephen Avenue into a vibrant, accessible hub for arts and culture. Thanks to a transformational donation of $25 million from the Shaw Family Foundation, the JR Shaw Free Admission Endowment will make Glenbow the first major museum in Canada to offer free general admission for everyone, forever. An additional $10 million from the Shaw Family Foundation is creating the JR Shaw Institute for Art in Canada. In honour of this $35 million donation, Glenbow’s building is being renamed the JR Shaw Centre for Arts & Culture.

To date, the Glenbow Reimagined campaign has raised $172 million of its $205 million goal, including capital commitments from the Government of Canada, the Government of Alberta, and The City of Calgary, as well as generous support from the community. Glenbow is set to reopen at the JR Shaw Centre for Arts & Culture in late 2026.

To learn more or support the Glenbow Reimagined campaign, visit Glenbow’s website.

Nicholas Bell
CEO of Glenbow

About Grayhawk

Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. (Grayhawk) is registered as an investment fund manager in the provinces of Alberta, Ontario and Quebec and as a portfolio manager and an exempt marker dealer in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking information

This release may contain forward-looking information or statements.  Any forward-looking information or statements contained herein are for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon. The information contained in this release and in any forward-looking statements is from sources Grayhawk believes to be reliable, however it is not guaranteed. Grayhawk provides no assurance that any forward-looking statements or assumptions will prove to be correct.

The information contained herein does not constitutes investment, legal, tax or other advice nor should it be relied upon in making any investment or other decision. Professional advice should be sought prior to making any investment decision.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author solely and do not necessarily reflect those of Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. or its affiliates.

Links to any third-party website contained herein are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Grayhawk has no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies or practices of any third-party website that may be access via the links provided herein.

Media inquiries

For all inquiries please contact our communications team.

Email: connect@grayhawkwealth.com
Tel.: 1 877 665 9951