We’re so excited to welcome Christine Leppard to Glenbow’s team! She joins as our new Director, Collections & Curatorial, taking over from retiring director Daryl Betenia. Christine joined Glenbow in January 2025 and hit the ground running with her new team to finalize exhibition plans for Glenbow’s reopening.
About Christine
Christine brings a combination of leadership, collection, and curatorial experience to Glenbow. Most recently, she led the Calgary Stampede’s curatorial, collections, and programs team in her role as the Manager of Exhibitions and Experience at the Sam Centre in preparation for the Sam Centre’s grand opening.
Through diverse knowledge and expertise, Christine is passionate about connecting community, bringing stories out of art and history, and using those stories to make our community stronger.
Christine earned her PhD in Canadian and military history from the University of Calgary and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in that department, providing hands-on public history opportunities to undergraduate students. She also contributes to the goals of Heritage Calgary as a member of their board and as past Board Chair.
Get to Know Her
We chatted with Christine to learn more about her love of history, Calgary, and her hopes for the future.
What first interested you in history?
My parents were teachers and growing up, they always shared their passion for history. It sparked that interest for me from a young age and it seemed like a natural evolution to continue asking questions.
Then during my undergrad, I went on a battlefield tour of Normandy. It really flipped a switch for me. I had academic questions that I wanted to answer at a deeper level. Later, I realized I wanted to go into a public space where we could take that research and the conversations happening in academia and bring them into community discussions. That’s really the power of museums.
What stories are most important to you when thinking about history?
The focus of my dissertation was in military history. I was fascinated with how governments, particularly our democratic government, used or didn’t use human lives with rigor or intentionality. Ultimately, every discussion about weapons purchases or munitions or battles is a story about a single human at a sharp end doing something dangerous.
I spent a lot of time exploring that. Then as I transitioned from academic history into public history, I started at the Calgary Stampede. The same connective tissue was still there – the human-driven elements. We can understand big things about our world, all captured through the story of one human.
In history generally, that’s captivating, but it’s also so important in the museum context. Our collections trace people’s lives, whether it’s artwork or artifacts, and these traces are really powerful access points to those stories.
And ultimately, these are ways for us to understand each other.
What were some highlights from your time with Calgary Stampede and opening the Sam Centre?
The Calgary Stampede has over 2 million people coming over 10 days – what a way to create impact through historical storytelling. The Stampede has that appetite for story.
My ten years at the Stampede were exceptionally rewarding. It was a privilege to see how Sam Centre connected people back to their family stories and their community stories. For example, Sam Centre’s multimedia experience was originally envisioned for people who didn’t know Calgary, to give them a place to experience Stampede outside the 10 days in July. What I saw was lifer Calgarians crying, because their passion was being communicated in a way that blew stereotypes out of the water.
We got to the core of why they cared. It felt like we’d done our job listening to community and delivered in a way that inspired awe, wonder, and curiosity.
What interested you in this role with Glenbow?
I was really inspired by two things: the curatorial vision and focus on accessibility.
Glenbow is an amazing place where we have a collection that really reflects Eric Harvie’s random and passionate collecting in the mid-1900s. The power and benefit of the broad and diverse collection is that it reflects Calgary. We’re a global city. This collection and curatorial vision allows us the honour and opportunity of co-creating exhibitions with our neighbours and sharing stories that resonate with our global community. That’s really powerful for me.
The impact of accessibility in Glenbow’s vision is equally inspiring. Free admission is unique to our community and it will be transformative. I think it will create this generational and societal change in how we think about museums as parts of our community. Museums become part of what we do: needed parts of our community. You see this in other global cities that have free museums, like London or Washington D.C., and it’s exciting to be part of that transformation in Calgary.
What have been your highlights in your first couple months?
Glenbow is grounded by a team of exceptional humans who have a vision for museums and a vision for Glenbow rooted in an ethical and inspirational approach. It has been so fun digging into the exhibitions for Glenbow’s opening with them. These exhibitions are fantastic, inspiring stories and I can’t wait for us to welcome the community to see them.
I’ve also had the privilege of participating in a lot of engagement sessions with Blackfoot Elders. Learning and hearing from them about the historic importance Glenbow has played in reconciliation and in repatriation in Alberta has been so inspiring and rewarding. I feel honoured to be part of that journey.
What are you most excited about for reopening?
I think we’re going to hear a lot of “wows” when doors open. The power of Glenbow and the power of museums is that we have the opportunity to spark curiosity and wonder and take people down rabbit holes they never knew they wanted to go down. And I cannot wait for that!
We are so thrilled to have Christine on Glenbow’s team! Her passion for history, story, and community are already helping shape experiences for Glenbow’s opening. Welcome Christine!
