Friday, December 14, 2012

Our 40th Anniversary Year-in-Review

What a year! The Calgary Sexual Health Centre (CSHC) has celebrated our 40 years of service in style. Every month we held an event, participated in a community collaboration or brought together long-time supporters and new friends to recognize the past and illustrate our community impact today.

Here's a look back at a few of the moments we celebrated with you over the past year!



MISS REPRESENTATION - a documentary film by Jennifer Siebil Newsom
On January 18th, our year-long celebrations kicked off with a screening of the acclaimed film, "Miss Representation" at the Globe Cinema. The film exposes how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America. We were pleased to bring the film to Calgary and engage our audience with a panel discussion following the viewing.



Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness Week
Open House
In February, we joined our fellow members of the Canadian Federation of Sexual Health to promote "Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness Week". From February 12-18 we focused our social media efforts on raising awareness of important sexual health issues. The week-long initiative is an example of how sex education has evolved over the past four decades, utlizing new technologies and the power of social media in acheiving our aim toward the normalization of sexuality, in all its dimensions.


Open House
On April 18th, we invited the public to take part in our 40th anniversary celebrations as we threw open the doors to our newly expanded office space and library.

We were pleased to welcome to our Open House over 100 people from across the community to help us celebrate the 40 year journey of our work in Calgary.



Annual General Meeting, featuring author Amy Schalet

ED Pam Krause 
with author 
Amy Schalet
We hosted our 2011 AGM on June 14th at the Calgary Winter Club. While the event reflected on the previous year, it was also an important evening for celebrating our anniversary. It was moving to reflect on the challenges and progress that has been made over the past four decades, and to learn about the passionate and innovative work that continues today.

A highlight of the event was of course the keynote presentation by acclaimed author Amy Schalet. Ms. Schalet's book, "Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens, and the Culture of Sex", examines the regulation of adolescent sexuality in American and Dutch families. Ms. Schalet shared her stories and insights into cultural differences around teen sexuality - and the impact of those differences. The presentation resonated with our staff and guests.


Pride Celebrations
In September we were proud to take part in the Pride festivities in Calgary and celebrate our long history of supporting the LGBT community. Our float in the Pride Parade was a colourful celebration of our 40th anniversary and our strong support of LGBT rights.


40th Anniversary Gala
To celebrate 4 decades - and to look forward to many more - we brought together long-time supporters and new friends for a playful and thought-provoking celebration at Belgo on October 25th. 


The event featured a short program of speeches by some of our founding members, long-time staff and our ED Pam Krause. Our guests were regaled with a look back on how society's views on gender, sexual orientation and reproductive health has shifted over the past 4 decades - and how we have responded.


Rick Mercer's 
"Lil Stevie" woody
Another highlight of the event was our "Paint a Woody" auction. In the months leading up to the Gala, we had invited some "featured artists" to raise their brushes to paint a woody - a wooden demonstration tool we use to teach youth how to properly put on a condom. 


Thanks to blogger 
Mike Morrison
for his great job at MC!
With Woody Artists like Rick Mercer, Sue Johanson, Jon Montgomery, Mike Morrison and W. Brett Wilson, the unique art pieces fetched over $4,500 at our auction!


Nearly 200 guests attended our Gala to celebrated our milestone and raise funds to support our ongoing work.

View our photo album on Facebook for more pics from the Gala!






Thank you to everyone who joined us this year in celebrating 40 years of audacity!
We look forward to another great year of serving Calgary in 2013.

From all of us at CSHC, we wish you and yours a safe and happy holiday season!