TAMRMS#: B09
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Bylaw 20/2019 Public Art Advisory Committee Bylaw
Presented by: Kelly Jerrott, Director, Community Services Department
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RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
That the Governance, Priorities and Finance Committee recommend to Council:
1. That Bylaw 20/2019, provided as an attachment to the October 15 Agenda Report entitled “Public Art Advisory Committee Bylaw”, be given three readings.
2. That Council Policy C-CS-04 be rescinded but that the provisions of the Policy pertaining to funding public art shall continue to apply for the 2020 budget process and projects already approved and in process shall continue notwithstanding rescission of the Policy; and
3. That upon appointment the new Public Art Advisory Committee shall draft and recommend a new Public Art Policy to Council for approval.
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PURPOSE OF REPORT
To provide Council with a proposed Public Art Advisory Committee Bylaw.
ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL STRATEGIC PRIORITY
N/A
ALIGNMENT TO SERVICE DELIVERY
Service Name Service Definition Service Component Current Service Level
Public Art Maintenance, addition Public Art Collection Inspect, assess and maintain the City of St.
Collection and removal to the City’s Albert’s public art collection to minimize
public art inventory deterioration and ensure professional
presentation of the collection.
Art in Public Places Public Art Reserve is in place with one percent (1%) of the Total Municipal Capital Project Budget annually allocated for the accession of art up to a maximum of $220,000. Escalation of the cap is done using the City’s Standard Indices Process as per Council Policy C-CS-04 Public Art. Public art is incorporated into the design of eligible capital projects and infrastructure throughout the City.
ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL DIRECTION OR MANDATORY STATUTORY PROVISION
On November 26, 2018 Council passed the following motion:
(CM-18-074)
That Administration bring forward for consideration at the GPFC meeting in 2019 where the processes and responsibilities of all committees of Council are being considered, a Bylaw to create a new Council Committee to be called the Public Art Committee, together with any required consequential amendments to or repeal of Council
Policy C-CS-04 the Public Art Policy, in order to accomplish the following:
Create a Public Art Committee appointed by resolution of Council, consisting of five to nine members who reside in St. Albert including one Council member and at least four
Committee members having experience or expertise as one of the following: visual artist, art educator or administrator, art historian or curator, conservator, architect, landscape architect, or design professional.
Clarifying the role of Administration as a resource to and in an advisory capacity to the Committee.
To revise the existing Policy to be in keeping with current practices and consistent with the intent of the remaining clauses identified in the Notice of Motion.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
As per the above motion, at Council’s request for a Bylaw to establish the Committee of Council, and to clarify the role of Administration as a resource for and in an advisory capacity to the Committee, administration is recommending that the Public Art Policy (C-CS-04) be rescinded and that a newly constituted Public Art Advisory Committee be tasked with bringing forward a new Policy on Public Art to Council as soon as is feasible.
St. Albert established its first Public Art Policy in 2009 as a way to provide a consistent approach to acquiring and displaying public art as well as to stimulate growth in the City’s arts and cultural sector. The Policy has been reviewed and updated twice since then with the most recent change coming in 2018 updating the way in which the Public Art Reserve is funded. To provide public input and expert advice on public art, a Public Art Advisory Committee was convened in 2010. This ad hoc Department committee was formed to establish juries and make recommendations on accession, deaccession and maintenance plans. This Bylaw transitions this committee to a more formal advisory committee, appointed by Council.
The benefits of having public members on the Committee were, and continue to be, to provide a community perspective on all aspects of Public Art and to ensure the operations of the committee were transparent. Public members of the Committee will provide high-level strategy advice as well as invaluable input into long term strategic planning. For example, the current Committee provided input and strategic advice on the locations for potential public art projects.
Administration recommends that the Council-appointed Public Art Advisory Committee, as their first responsibility, bring a new Public Art Policy to Council. Administration will support the development of this policy by providing additional research on the best practices of other communities as well as facilitating an engagement and review process as directed by the Committee.
St. Albert has long been a leader in arts and cultural among Canadian municipalities, for example St. Albert was the first municipality in Canada to have a stand-alone culture Department. 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.
While researching the approach other jurisdictions take to support public art, administration noted that a possible option is to bring together other art and cultural development programs, including funding and recognition programs, under the strategic direction of one Committee of Council. During our research we were unable to find another jurisdiction at the municipal level with a model such as this. This does offer St. Albert another opportunity to lead and set best practices, and create an innovative model, unique to St. Albert.
In considering expanding the Public Art Advisory Committee to include Cultural Development, Administration identified that a potential result could be consistency in policy and program development as well as the opportunity to reduce costs by more efficiently using resources such as juries. The current programs that utilize a jury and which could be included are the Lieutenant Governor Distinguished Young Artist Legacy Policy and Cultural Wall of Fame Policy as well as the Arts Micro Grant Program.
These programs are similar to public art in that they provide direct funding to artists to recognize and support the creation of new art in any discipline - whether it is music, literature, film or the visual arts. A further review of existing and planned programming could identify other programs that would fit well under this model.
The risk of this approach includes the fact that, in order to keep the size of the committee to a reasonable and manageable level, committee members will need to have a general knowledge of a number of areas meaning that there will be fewer specific subject matter experts on the committee. This risk could be mitigated by enacting specific juror selection criteria to ensure the appropriate expertise is in place to make funding and acquisitions recommendations to the Committee.
Should Council choose this approach, Administration has prepared a draft bylaw for review and discussion.
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS OR ENGAGEMENT
None at this time.
IMPLICATIONS OF RECOMMENDATION(S)
Financial:
None at this time.
Legal / Risk:
None at this time.
Program or Service:
This Bylaw formalizes this Committee as a Council Committee. Administrative support would remain the same.
Organizational:
None at this time.
ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED
1. Maintain status quo.
2. Refer Bylaw back to Administration for further consideration with direction from GPFC.
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Report Date: October 15, 2019
Author: Kelly Jerrott
Department: Community Services Department
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer: Kerry Hilts
Chief Administrative Officer: Kevin Scoble