Matt Venczel

Review of Bell Studio

The elephant in the room is the steep price tag, e...

The elephant in the room is the steep price tag, especially for families or larger groups. At $18 per adult, $14 for youth, and $11 for children, the price can quickly escalate, and you are bound to get more for your dollar at somewhere like the zoo or the science center, especially for young kids. For me, this was a place to come after exhausting all other attractions as a resident of Calgary.

As exhibits go there are some physical exhibits, higher amounts the higher the floor, however a lot of the museum is text on a wall. This isn't going to entertain kids for long. For older, aka over 20, adults this museum is good for evoking nostalgic feelings when seeing a guitar or piano, or maybe a costume worn by a well known musician or band. For children there are some interactive exhibits in the museum, but I found these to be a bit sparse.

The live demonstration of the organ was very engaging for all ages, and was by far the most interesting part of the experience for me.

Overall, this is a good museum to go to for the musically inclined, or someone who has visited almost every Calgary and area attraction already. The 3/5 reflects the museum's lack of physical exhibits, where most of the displays are just text that involves history that could be looked up on Wikipedia. Also, upon getting to the top, expecting the massive skybridge to be something interesting or to hold another exhibit, finding a small and empty stage was disappointing to say the least.