‘Last chance’ for public art model

Citizen input sought after outrage over high-profile, high-Cost works

The city plans to ask Calgarians this spring about how to improve its controversial public art policy.

An online and telephone survey of Calgarians could roll out as early as April, according to a progress report presented to a city committee Wednesday, on the city ’s efforts to reform the policy.

“The public is hugely important,” said Sarah Iley, manager of arts and culture for the city. “It’s the art that’s being made in their public space and we want to make sure that they have the opportunity to provide us with their opinions and their views about how best to do this in the future, (and) what we’ve got right and how they ’d like to see some things change.”

City council voted last September to put the public art program on hold pending a review.

The controversial program — which sees one per cent of the capital of big infrastructure projects spent on art — has been condemned after several high-profile and expensive works were widely criticized by Calgarians.

Works such as Travelling Light (a.k.a. the Big Blue Ring) in the northeast and the Bowfort Towers near Canada Olympic Park were among the works attacked for their esthetics, as well as their price tags.

Efforts to reform the public art policy are underway and the city says it will report back to council in June with recommendations once engagement and consultations have been completed.

Coun. Druh Farrell, a vocal proponent of spending on the arts, told committee members that the city must get the policy right this time.

“I don’t mind some mistakes, I don’t think we can suffer ones like we did,” Farrell said.

“I think this is kind of the last chance to get the policy right and I think we’ll do that.

“Art can be city-building, it can be an extraordinary way to tell our stories, so let’s do that.”