TAMRMS#: B09
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Bylaw 09/2020 Arts Development Advisory Committee Bylaw
Presented by: Paul Pearson, Manager, Creative Industries and Cultural Development, Community Services Department
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RECOMMENDATION(S)
recommendation
That the Community Living Standing Committee recommend to Council that Bylaw 09-2020, the Arts Development Advisory Committee Bylaw, provided as an attachment to the March 9 Agenda Report entitled “Arts Development Advisory Committee Bylaw” receive three readings.
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PURPOSE OF REPORT
To provide the Committee with a draft Bylaw recommended by Administration to form an Arts Development Advisory Committee.
ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL STRATEGIC PRIORITY
N/A
ALIGNMENT TO SERVICE DELIVERY
Service Levels:
1) Public Art Collection, Maintenance, addition and removal to the City's public art inventory, Council Policy C-CS-04
o Inspect, assess and maintain the City of St. Albert's public art collection to minimize deterioration and ensure professional presentation of the collection
o Art in Public Places Public Art Reserve - 1% of eligible capital projects funds are pooled annually for acquisition and creation of art in public places.
2) Lieutenant Governor Distinguished Young Artist Legacy Program, Council Policy C-CS-10
o Grants are awarded by Council in May of each year. Total amount awarded each year is up to $2,400. Maximum funding for Individual applicants is $500. Maximum funding for Arts Organizations of Group is $1,000
3) Cultural Wall of Fame, Council Policy C-CS-15
o The annual recipient(s) of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts is that year’s inductee(s) into the Cultural Wall of Fame.
ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL (OR COMMITTEE) DIRECTION OR MANDATORY STATUTORY PROVISION
On October 15, 2019, GPFC passed the following motion:
(AR-19-322)
That Bylaw 20/2019 Public Art Advisory Committee Bylaw be referred back to Administration for further consideration taking into account feedback from GPFC and bring back the alternate Bylaw to a future GPFC Meeting.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
St. Albert continues to be a leader in arts and cultural among Canadian municipalities - St. Albert was the first municipality in Canada to have a stand-alone Culture Department - and as a result, our community has enjoyed a level of sustainability and grass roots support of, and participation in arts and culture. This has, in turn, helped St. Albert be consistently rated as one of the best places to live, not only in the province, but in the Country - as evidenced by the August 8, 2019 issue of MacLean’s magazine which rated St. Albert the number 1 community in Alberta and 23rd in Canada. The ongoing review and evolution arts and culture related policies will ensure St. Albert continues to maintain the arts and cultural services the community enjoys.
Based on feedback from Council in October 2019, and confirmed in a meeting with Councilor Joly on January 29, 2020, Department staff have researched options for the creation of a Council Committee to support Public Art and Arts Development for the City of St. Albert.
The arts and cultural programming offered by the City of St. Albert can be divided into two broad categories: direct programming and arts development:
1) Direct programming: includes activities such as the Arden Professional Series, Children’s Festival and classes where the public pay to attend, view or participate in an arts activity.
2) Arts Development: includes activities and programs that provide support to artists and arts organizations through funding or recognition. This includes programs such as the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts, Poet Laureate, and Public Art, or potential future arts or artist development grants.
Direct programming serves audience demands, is market-driven and the service levels are relatively well-defined. Arts Development is less market-driven and is more a tool to bring about desired social and economic outcomes. There is an opportunity to develop a strategic framework to align arts and culture policy with the new Municipal Development Plan. This alignment creates a clear strategic framework to ensure long range plans evolve with our growing community, and service levels for arts and culture programming and arts development are in keeping with the needs of the community.
Outside of the hybrid administrative approach that St. Albert currently uses, there are generally two other approaches municipalities can take to provide Arts Development activities and programming:
1) Committee of Council: form a committee of council, with various levels of community and expert membership, to provide input and strategic direction to Administration.
2) Outside Agency: transfer responsibility to a willing and capable outside agency. For example the Edmonton Arts Council and the City of Calgary.
The benefit of forming a Committee of Council is that the City retains more direct control of the strategic direction for how arts development funding is distributed and that the percentage of city funding that benefits residents directly is higher. There is also more potential to create consistency in policy and program development, aligning to long-range planning frameworks, as well as the opportunity to reduce costs by more efficiently using resources such as juries. This option also includes the potential of maximizing efficiencies of integrating public art and functional art into city infrastructure and projects. This approach would maximize the effect city dollars have on the process of enabling cultural activities, including Public Art, towards meeting the needs of the community and the realization of a culturally rich and vibrant St. Albert.
The outside agency option does offer a measure of separation between Council and the decisions around granting and public art, however, Council would lose a degree of direct control over programming. Additionally, because an agency would likely have to add administrative capacity to manage this programming, whereas those costs are currently absorbed within city staff and supply allocations, a larger percentage of the available budget may be used for administration costs thus reducing the amount that would go to artists and programming.
While the Arts and Heritage Foundation in St. Albert may be able to take responsibility for the public art program, they may not have the resources or expertise to administer the full range of arts development activities currently provided by the City. The outside agency option would likely need to include exploring some regional partnerships to deliver some programming. For example, the Edmonton Arts Council could be approached about possibly setting up a specific grant funding stream for St. Albert artists. Some programming, such as the Mayor’s Awards, would possibly still need to be delivered by Administration. Based on the direction provided by the CLSC to explore the Council Committee approach, research has focused primarily on the Council Committee, additional research and consultation would be necessary to fully explore the outside agency option.
Based on our initial review, and given the uncertainties in outside organizational capacity, as well as the added time and resources it would take to pursue the outside agency option, Administration is recommending the formation of a Committee of Council called the Arts Development Advisory Committee.
The responsibilities of the Arts Development Advisory would include:
1) Providing guidance and strategic direction on the development of policies for the City of St. Albert which support the development of the arts and artists which may include:
a. Objectives for the development and support of artists and arts organizations through grant and recognition programs;
b. Objectives for public art including collection accession and deaccession, conservation and maintenance, and use and access plans; and
c. Mechanisms for ongoing public participation and feedback on policies and programs, including juror recruitment, for grant and recognition programs and public art;
2) Recommending the allocation of funds from the applicable operating and capital budgets and reserves including Public Art (C-CS-04), Lieutenant Governor Distinguished Young Artists Legacy Program (C-CS-10), and the Cultural Wall of Fame (C-CS-15);
3) Acting as champions and spokespersons to educate the public about the benefits of Public Art and Arts Development; and,
4) Providing input and recommendations to administration and Council to ensure that arts development and public art are considered integral components of City strategic and business plans.
The Committee would consist of a minimum of five (5) and a maximum of nine (9) Members, one of whom may be a member of Council.
In making annual appointments to the Committee, Council will attempt to ensure that the Committee includes Members with experience or expertise in one or more of the following to the extent that the applicant pool will allow:
a. Practicing Artist;
b. art educator or administrator;
c. art historian, curator or conservator; or,
d. architect, landscape architect or design professional.
All Members must be residents of the City.
To summarize, the Arts Development Advisory Committee would provide guidance and strategic direction on the programs which give money to the arts community through either grants and awards, or through the purchase of public art, which benefits artists directly by contributing to their income and by giving them an opportunity to have their work included as part of the City’s public art collection.
This Arts Development Advisory Committee approach aligns with long-range planning frameworks and will allow Council to ensure that City resources are being distributed fairly, transparently, consistently and that these programs reflect the needs and desires of the community.
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS OR ENGAGEMENT
Stakeholder engagement has not occurred to this point. Ongoing stakeholder/community engagement will be important to ensure that we are meeting industry standards, and that the Arts Development Advisory Committee provides an avenue of communication and consultation between the arts community, the general community and Council.
IMPLICATIONS OF RECOMMENDATION(S)
Financial:
n/a
Legal / Risk:
None at this time.
Program or Service:
This Bylaw formalizes this Committee as a Council Committee. Administrative support would be established as required to be consistent with governance practices and levels of support provided to other committees of Council. In addition to providing the formal strategic framework as detailed above, this committee would function as a sounding board for staff, providing a checkpoint to ensure that projects and initiatives going forward meet community needs.
Organizational:
Community Services existing staff have a wide range of technical, artistic, and administrative expertise and currently provide support to meet existing service levels.
ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED
1. Refer Bylaw back to Administration for further consideration.
2. Explore the possibility of delegating all or some arts development programming and funding to one or more outside agencies.
3. Maintain the status quo including the current Public Art Advisory Committee Structure and review and update the following policies as needed: Public Art (C-CS-04), Lieutenant Governor Distinguished Young Artists Legacy Program (C-CS-10), and the Cultural Wall of Fame (C-CS-15).
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Report Date: March 9, 2020
Author: Paul Pearson
Department: Community Services Department
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer: Kerry Hilts
Chief Administrative Officer: Kevin Scoble