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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCSD-11-103 - Public Art Policy & Program Review complete1 KITCx~i~~R Staff Re ort p Camrn unity Services Departm ent ~w.k~~~~~r~erca REPORT T0: Community and Infrastructure Services Committee DATE OF MEETING: August 15, 2011 SUBMITTED BY: Mark Hildebrand, Director, Community Programs and Services, ext. 2687 PREPARED BY: Cheryl York, Arts/Culture Coordinator, ext. 3381 WARD(S) INVOLVED: All DATE OF REPORT: July 25, 2011 REPORT NO.: CSD-11-103 SUBJECT: PUBLIC ART POLICY AND PROGRAM OVERVIEW RECOMMENDATION: That Public Art Policy I-816, as approved on September 20, 2010 and attached to Report CSD-11-103 as Appendix A, be re-confirmed. BACKGROUND: Following an extensive review of the public art program and its policies in 2008, Council approved a new public art policy, accompanied by Collection Management Guidelines, on December 8, 2008. During the review and preparation of a new draft policy, public and interdepartmental meetings were held and a public survey was conducted. The Arts and Culture Advisory Committee and its sub-committee, the Public Art Working Group, were key contributors to the project. Further, report CSD-10-058 with the following recommendations was considered by Council and approved on September 2010: (A) Policy Amendment • Recommendation: Amend Policy I-816 Section 2, to clarify the nature of eligible projects: Eligible projects include new construction or construction that achieves major changes in the scope of a facility such as new programs, services or functions. This does not include projects where only routine maintenance is being carried out. (B) Five-Year Plan Strategies • Recommendation: Explore future public art projects with partners, including Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area (CAFKA). • Recommendation: Pursue municipal partnership opportunities to educate the public and continue to build the discipline of public art in our community. • Recommendation: Inform the private development sector of our public art program and invite and encourage participation. • Recommendation: Waive the purchasing process, if maintenance or restoration on art work is required, to allow the original artist to perform the work within the specified 16-1 1 Staff Report Krr~.~-~~,i~iER CommunityServicesDepartment www.kitthenerta budget. In cases where the original artist is unavailable, the arts and culture unit will select a suitable professional consultant through an RFP process. • Recommendation: Public art works must be (1) permanently sited, or (2) installed for a specific length of time with the understanding that the art work will not be stored by the City thereafter. • Recommendation: Public art policy compliance should be built into the project management processes of all affected civic construction projects. • Recommendation: Develop promotional and educational tools in various media to educate and inform both the general public and sectors of interest. As per established procedures and the terms of reference for the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee and Public Art Working Group, staff would continue to consult with members and ask for comment regarding any future changes to the public art policy and program. REPORT: Canadian Context Public art has been on the Canadian municipal agenda since the late 1980's. A body of practice has built up in the past two decades based on fair and open processes, site-responsive works, and community building and identity. Site responsive works are those which express the meaning or attributes of a particular site in some way. For example, significant historical locations often have a commemorative monument that takes an event or a person out of the history books to interpret it as sculpture or mural. Cities of every size, including Sioux Lookout, ON (pop. 5,500) and Nelson, B.C. (pop. 10,000), have established public art policies, demonstrating that such policies are not a function of size as much as they are about community pride. Kitchener's Policies Kitchener has had a formal public art program since 1995 when the first policy was approved (Policy I-340 Guidelines for Acquisitions). This was followed in 1998 with the Public Art Collection Management Policy, and a Percent for Art funding policy in 2000. These program and policy developments followed a growing trend in Canadian cities to make public art an increasingly visible part of urban design and development. Kitchener's Culture Plan II (2005) recommended that the public art program continue to grow. By 2008, the need for a review of the program was apparent. The review's objectives were to examine consolidation of the various policies into one, and other improvements and efficiencies. The consulting firm, The Planning Partnership, identified the following issues: • Lack of a clear vision for the program • Disconnected policy framework • Need to clarify interdepartmental roles • Promotion of the program • Lack of private sector participation. 16-2 1 Staff Report Krr~.~-~~,i~iER CommunityServicesDepartment www.kitthenerta The Planning Partnership's final report made these recommendations: Consolidate policies • Enhance Official Plan and Urban Design Guidelines to reflect the importance of public art for community-building • Increase public awareness through marketing strategies Use a variety of acquisition methods • Explore ways to engage the private sector • Explore public art partnerships with other community agencies and institutions Consider developing a public art master plan. In December 2008, a new public art policy (I-816) resulted from the review work. This policy was revised in 2010 (see Appendix A), accompanied by a five-year plan and collection management guidelines. Since then, further work has been done to clarify the role of public art in the Official Plan and Urban Design Guidelines, to make the policy and program accessible to the public online, and to work with regional partners on acost-shared brochure to raise general awareness about the municipal public art collections. In addition, follow-through has happened with the production of guidelines for private and institutional developers, discussions with other arts agencies, and a public survey to determine preferred locations for public art in the community. A plan for additional signage will be developed and implemented in 2012. Policy I-816 Funding Implications The policy governs the acquisition and display of permanent and temporary public art works. Program funding derives from a one percent allocation applied to civic projects with construction budgets over $100,000. The maximum one percent amount is $300,000 per project (1 % on a $30 million construction project). Projects of this size are rare. For projects with construction budgets of $10 million+, 60% of the one percent allocation may be used for the public art project while 40% of the one percent amount is held in a pooled fund. The pooled fund supports temporary projects, marketing and promotion, and education initiatives, and brings underfunded projects up to the minimum project budget of $10,000. It may also make projects at preferred sites, rather than at the site of the generating construction project, possible. An example of the use of pooled funds, the youth video competition was established in 2010; the winning entries were projected on the Cube on top of City Hall as a temporary public art initiative. "Construction budget" includes materials costs and labour. One percent allocations are not based on consultant/design fees, contingency amounts or the funding contributions of other agencies. 16-3 1 Staff Report Krr~.~-~~,i~iER CommunityServicesDepartment www.kitthenerta Locations for Public Art Policy I-816 identified criteria for choosing preferred public art sites: • High visibility locations • Locations of importance to the community • Ease of public access and consistency with Urban Design Guidelines and Neighbourhood Design Guidelines • Budgets to suit the scale and maintenance needs of the project • Equitable distribution of sites throughout the city. Currently, there is a good distribution of art works in city neighbourhoods due to locations at community centres, libraries and parks. More art works are located downtown. Up to now, all art works commissioned through one percent funding have been installed at the sites whose construction budgets generated the funding. However, there are future opportunities for alternative, high-profile sites to be considered with the support of the pooled fund. Kitchener's Public Art Collection Queen Victoria in Victoria Park is the oldest art work in the collection, donated to the city by the Independent Order of Daughters of the Empire in 1907. Since 1993, the collection has grown to 27 pieces, an average of 1.5 art works per year. Compared to cities of similar size (Ottawa, North Vancouver, and Surrey, BC) Kitchener's collection is very modest. As in other municipalities, the collection has a variety of materials, styles and sizes as well as commission values. The average cost of a commissioned art work is $42,062 within a range of commissions from $10,000 to $125,000. Stimulus funding in 2009/2010 accelerated some city construction projects, causing an increase in the number of projects and in some cases, the size. The Kitchener Public Library main branch addition and Kitchener Operations Facility are two examples of rare projects at the higher funding levels. A typical project budget includes expenses for materials, insurance, fabrication, installation, transportationldelivery, studio and equipment rentals, documentation, contingency, and artist design fee. The artist design fee is typically a very small component of the project budget. For outdoor projects where more expensive and durable materials and a greater number of production hours are required, the projects are often not financially feasible for artists if the project is underfunded. It is not uncommon for major projects in large cities to carry commission fees at the $250,000+ level. Preference is given to proposals for art works that will endure for at least 25 years (one generation). Images and more information, including overview and explanation of each piece in the collection, are available at www.kitchener.ca by following the links to Public Art. 16-4 1 Staff Report Krr~.~-~~,i~iER CommunityServicesDepartment www.kitthenerta Competitions Most projects are developed through the competition process. Although there is a preference to select area artists whenever possible, our competitions attract artists from many locations. Half of the artists represented in Kitchener's collection are from our geographic area. The proposals of all applicants are considered on criteria that include success with past projects, quality of work, site responsiveness, quality of the proposed design, feasibility of the proposal and references. Smaller budget projects are viewed as good opportunities for artists with little or no public art experience to break into the field. Each competition has participation by a jury consisting of stakeholders, citizens, visual arts professionals and ward councillors. Jury selections are forwarded to the Public Art Working Group and Arts and Culture Advisory Committee before proceeding to Community Infrastructure Services Committee and Council. Typical project duration is 1 - 2 years before the installation is completed. In some recent cases, although competitions have taken place, the installations will not be completed for 2 - 3 years. This occurs when a major project's construction is expected to be lengthy and the artist's role with public art is best fulfilled by participating in the project as early as possible (planning stages). Project Approval Process ~ Develop project terms of reference (staffl ~ ~ Review project terms of reference (PAWG) ~ ~ Develop jury (staff, PAWG) ~ ~ Jury selects preferred artist, prepares rationale statement; motion ~ Technical review ~ PAWG: review & support jury selection; recommendation to ACAC ~ ~ ACAC receives and supports PAWG's recommendation ~ ~ Report to CSIC and Council ~ Final decision Legal agreement ~ Implementation of public art work ~ 16-5 1 KITCx~i~~R Staff Re ort p Camrn unity Services Departm ent ~w.k~~~~~r~erca Public Art Working Group This volunteer committee was established in 2000 to provide oversight for the public art program and advice on projects. It is a permanent sub-committee of the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee. The members are visual arts professionals in our region, including practising artists, gallery curators, and educators. The group meets once each month and its 8 members (current membership) volunteer a total of 250 person-hours per year. Project Schedule 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 * 2015 * 2016 Charles/ Kitchener Parkin g Charles and Mill- Courtland Benton Operations Facility, Water Street Communit y Garage Facility Civic District Garage Centre Country Kingsdale Belmont Hills Library CC Avenue Public art McLennan Enhanced webpage Park signage Cube Digital Cube Digital Cube Digital projections projections projections Youth Youth Youth Videos Videos Videos Bullas Bridgeport Sculptures CC City Centre Otto St. Courtyard (TBC) Kitchener Guidelines Library, for Queen St. developers Public Art Brochure * Estimated timing ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN: All arts and culture programming provided by the city is designed to demonstrate leadership in quality, public engagement and access, as well as consistency with the city's vision and strategic directions, and the overall community benefit of quality of life. The public art program acknowledges this in its vision statement, created at a town hall meeting in 2008: "Kitchener is a vibrant community where the best forms of public art explore our diversity, tell our stories, and welcome artists to use creativity and imagination to make unique landmarks and beautiful gathering places." 16-6 1 Staff Report Krr~.~-~~,i~iER CommunityServicesDepartment www.kitthenerta In addition, the policy and program support downtown improvement objectives. In a recent Economic Development strategy symposium, leaders in the business, education, investment and cultural sectors identified the benefits of public art in a community which is working to attract and retain a competitive, innovative work force and new business development. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: Not at this time. CONCLUSION: As with all policies and programs, periodic review is necessary. In 2010 it was recommended that the public art program and policy be reviewed in 5 years, that is, 2015. The current one percent funding model has served this program reasonably well. However, consideration should be given to the implications for the program during years when there are no suitable capital projects underway or the program requires other changes to improve it and to meet the needs of the future. On September 12, recommendations based on the jury selections for City Centre Courtyard and Kitchener Operations Facility will come forward for Council's consideration. ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Jeff Willmer, Deputy CAO, Community Services Department AttarhmPnt~• Appendix A: Public Art Policy I-816 Appendix B: Presentation slides 16-7 CSD-11-103 Appendix A COUNCIL POLICY RESOLUTION POLICY NUMBER: I-816 POLICY TYPE: FINANCIAL SUBJECT: PUBLIC ART POLICY DATE: DECEMBER 8, 2008 AMENDED: SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 POLICY CONTENT: 1.0 PURPOSE Kitchener is a vibrant community where the best forms of public art explore our diversity, tell our stories, and welcome artists to use creativity and imagination to make our public spaces landmarks and gathering places. The goal of the public art policy is to contribute to the City's cultural identity and its strategic priorities. Better quality of life, increased social cohesion, good urban design, broad community involvement, increased potential for economic development and public access to the arts are some of the intended benefits. 2.0 SCOPE 2.1 The policy serves the City of Kitchener's many neighbourhoods. It supports the development of partnerships with the general public, the arts community and arts service organizations, and with institutional and private sector partners. 2.2 Two citizen advisory committees are directly involved in the public art program: the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee and the Public Art Working Group. 2.3 The policy affects the following City departments: Economic Development, Finance, Legal, Facilities Management, Community Services, and Development and Technical Services (Planning, Engineering}. The Arts and Culture Unit, Community Services Department, is primarily responsible for policy implementation. 2.4 The policy governs programming which results in the permanent acquisition and/or temporary display of public artworks. Program funding derives from a one percent allocation applied to civic projects with construction budgets over $100,000. The municipal public art collection develops through this program. KITCHENER Page 1 of 5 SEPTEMBER 2010 16-8 POLICY NUMBER:I-816 POLICY TYPE: FACILITY SUBJECT: PUBLIC ART POLICY 2.0 SCOPE, CONT'D CSD-11-103 Appendix A 2.5 Eligible projects include new construction or construction that achieves major changes in the scope of the facility such as new programs, services or functions. This does not include projects where only routine maintenance is being carried out. 2.6 The policy does not govern programming under the Industrial Artifacts Project title, nor the Artist-in-Residence program. 3.0 DEFINITION Public Art: original artworks, permanent ortemporary, in any medium or discipline, placed, incorporated or performed in publicly accessible indoor or outdoor locations in response to the site and for the benefit of the public. For the purposes of this policy, Public Art does not include plaques, archival collections or heritage assets already supported by other budgets, committees and policies. 4.0 POLICY 4.1 Through the public art program, the City acquires art works of excellent quality for the purpose of permanent or temporary displays in public places such as civic buildings, civic plazas, streetscapes, and open spaces (parks, trails). 4.2 A master plan for public art contains strategies for the best use of funding and preferred sites based on specific criteria. Criteria for preferred public art sites and art works include high visibility locations and appropriate scale, ease of public access, relevance to the community, ease of maintenance, consistency with the City's Urban Design Guidelines and Neighbourhood Design Guidelines, quality of the art work, budget considerations and equitable distribution of sites throughout the City. 4.3 One percent of the costs of civic projects with construction budgets in excess of $100,000 are allocated to a consolidated public art capital account. The maximum allocation at the one percent contribution is $300,000. KITCHENER Page 2 of 5 SEPTEMBER 2010 16-9 POLICY NUMBER:I-816 POLICY TYPE: FACILITY SUBJECT: PUBLIC ART POLICY 4.0 POLICY, CONT'D CSD-11-103 Appendix A 4.4 Civic construction projects contributing to the consolidated capital account are eligible for a public art project as follows: (a) Projects that generate less than $10,000 (e.g. one percent of a capital budget less than $1 million) are supplemented from the consolidated account to the $10,000 level for any one public art project (b) Construction projects that generate more than $100,000 (e.g. one percent of a capital budget greater than $10 million) will consume 60% of the one percent allocation for their public art project. The remaining 40% of the one percent allocation is contributed to the consolidated fund for use by smaller projects and to complete the priorities of the community as expressed in the public art master plan. (c) Construction projects that generate an amount between $10,000 and $100,000 will consume the exact amount of the percent allocation for their public art project. 4.5 The consolidated account enables a choice of options for public art projects: (a) public art projects at civic sites, (b) temporary installation projects such as digital projections on the Berlin Tower, (c) promotion of the collection and public education. 4.6 Eligible construction project budgets are identified annually during the capital budget process. 4.7 The program continues to support public art objectives as described in the Official Plan and other approved planning documents. 4.8 The City engages in public art partnerships with the private sector, the institutional sector, arts organizations, and other governments. 4.9 The City encourages the private development sector to participate voluntarily in the percent for art program. KITCHENER Page3of5 SEPTEMBER 2010 16 - 10 POLICY NUMBER:I-816 POLICY TYPE: FACILITY SUBJECT: PUBLIC ART POLICY 4.0 POLICY, CONT'D CSD-11-103 Appendix A 4.10 In construction projects for which the City has provided grants or loans to an outside agency, the terms of the loan or grant agreement include a requirement for public art to be included in that project. The grant or loan must be in excess of $100,000. The one percent allocation will not exceed $300,000. 4.11 The public art collection is documented and maintained to the highest standards. 5.0 IMPLEMENTATION 5.1 Roles and Responsibilities 5.1.1 The Arts and Culture Unit manages the public art program and is responsible for project development and monitoring, competition processes, collection management, communications, and partnership creation. However, the program's implementation depends on participation from many departments in varying degrees. These roles range from contract preparation to artwork maintenance. 5.1.2 The Arts and Culture Advisory Committee's permanent sub- committee, the Public Art Working Group (PAWG), provides specialized advice on policy, program and projects and champions the program in the community. All acquisitions, whether by competition-derived commission, direct purchase, or donation, are reviewed by PAWG and then by the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee. This advisory committee support is communicated to Council when recommendations are made. PAWL members routinely serve on competition juries. 5.1.3 Both the general community and members of the arts community participate in competition juries to provide balance and stakeholder involvement. Ward councillors are invited to participate on a public art juries which serve their wards. 5.1.4 Public art celebrations are designed to be public events. KITCHENER Page 4 of 5 SEPTEMBER 2010 16 - 11 POLICY NUMBER:I-816 POLICY TYPE: FACILITY SUBJECT: PUBLIC ART POLICY 5.0 IMPLEMENTATION, CONT'D 5.2 Project Planning CSD-11-103 Appendix A Public art information is included in RFP documents for eligible construction projects. With this approach, public art is integrated earlier into the capital project for both efficiency and optimum results. 5.3 Acquisition Methods A variety of acquisition methods are used to better serve the needs of unique projects and situations and the overall mandate of the collection. Open competition-generated commissions, invitational competition-generated commissions, direct purchases and donations are used. 5.4 Jury Procedures Competition juries ensure a fair public process through balanced participation by community representatives, other project stakeholders and professional arts community representatives. Competition juries function in accordance with established procedures. 5.5 Technical Review of Proposals All commission proposals derived from competitions, and proposals for direct purchases, are reviewed by an interdepartmental staff team and, as needs warrant, by outside experts, to assess compliance with mechanical, structural, health and safety, and maintenance requirements. 5.6 Education Public education strategies include, but are not limited to, participation on juries, communication tools such as signage, artist talks, brochures, website information, and public art symposia. KITCHENER Page5of5 SEPTEMBER 2010 16 - 12 CSD-11-103 Appendix B Program and Policy History • Policy I-340 Guidelines for Acquisitions (1995) • Policy I-285 Public Art Collection Management (1998) • Policy I-485 Public Art Policy (2000, revised 2003) • Policy I-650 Percent for Art Policy (2000, revised 2001 and 2004) 16 - 13 CSD-11-103 Appendix B Program Review 2008 • Accumulation of policies and lack of clarity surrounding processes showed need for review • City hired consultant "The Planning Partnership" to examine the program and its various policies; recommend efficiencies Issues Identified • Lack of a clear vision for the program • Disconnected policy framework • Interdepartmental roles need clarification • Program needs to be promoted • Lack of private sector participation 16 - 14 CSD-11-103 Appendix B Consultant's Recommendations • Consolidate policies • Enhance Official Plan and Urban Design Guidelines to reflect importance of public art for community-building • Increase public awareness through marketing • Use a variety of acquisition methods • Explore ways to engage the private sector • Explore public art partnerships with other community agencies and institutions • Consider developing a public art master plan Results • Policies consolidated into I-816 Public Art Policy (2008, revised 2010) • Additional public art text has been recommended for the current draft Official Plan • City's website now has public art page with interactive map • Regional public art brochure produced with local municipal partners (shared cost), to be distributed in 2011 16 - 15 CSD-11-103 Appendix B Results • `Guidelines for private and institutional developers' -brochure development in 2011 • Discussions with Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery and Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area (CAFKA) about partnership projects • Public survey completed to identify priority locations for public art that could be included in a future master plan • Additional signage plan to be implemented in 2012 Policy I-816: Financial Implications • Policy I-816 governs the acquisition and display of permanent and temporary public art • Program funding derives from a one percent allocation applied to civic projects with construction budgets over $100,000 • Maximum one percent amount is $300,000 per project • For projects with construction budgets of $10 million+, 60% of the one percent allocation may be used for the public art project while 40% of the one percent amount is held in a pooled fund 16 - 16 CSD-11-103 Appendix B The Pooled Fund Supports options for the program, including: • Public art projects at civic sites • Public art at identified priority sites • Temporary installations such as digital projections on the Berlin Tower • Promotion of the collection • Education initiatives Also enabled a $10,000 increase in budget for McLennan Park, the Youth Video Competition for the Cube and a public art brochure. Project Locations: Criteria Policy I-816 established the following criteria for preferred public art sites - • High visibility locations • Locations of importance to the community • Ease of public access • Consistency with the City's Urban Design Guidelines and Neighbourhood Design Guidelines • Budgets to suit the scale and maintenance needs of the project • Equitable distribution of sites throughout city 16 - 17 CSD-11-103 Appendix B Pro'ect Locations: Current J • Good distribution of art works in city neighbourhoods due to ~~ ~ ~, locations at community ~ ~ - ~~ ~~~ k~ -~ K centres libraries and arks al~~: m~ ~: - _+~ -y~. - ~~ ~~ ~~..: a_ ~- •More art works are located ~~~~ in downtown area - -_~ ~;, .~~~ _ n .. ~~ . y ~M • Art works continue to be _ ._ . ~:~uo F tied to the sites where construction budgets F ~4 - ~~~ ~~ ~y ~~ generated 1% funding ~~ ~ e ~ ~_~ a Kitchener's Public Art Collection • Queen Victoria is the oldest art work in the collection; acquired through donation • Since 1993, the collection of art works has grown to 27 • Most recent installation is "Moments" in McLennan Park • All images and information at: www.kitchener.ca 16 - 18 CSD-11-103 Appendix B Quick Facts 24 art works were acquired through percentfor art funding 3 artworks acquired through donations Average commission fee is $42, 062 Permanent outdoorworks are expected to last 25 years On average, one project has been done each year Stimulus funding in 2009/2010 accelerated some city construction projects, causing an increase in number of projects Competitions • Acquiring art works through competitions promotes fair practices and equal opportunities • Criteria for selection: a record of success in past public art projects; a history of quality professional work; quality of the proposed design; feasibility of the proposal; references • Half the artists represented in the city's collection are local or regional artists 16 - 19 -- _ ~_ F ~~ _~ CSD-11-103 Appendix B Competitions • Smaller budget projects may be good opportunities for less experienced artists to participate • Juries consist of project stakeholders, citizens, visual arts professionals, ward councillors • Process of project development, competition, implementation and installation may take 1 - 2 years. Public Art Working Group • Established in 2000 • Provides program and project advice • Represented on juries • Reviews jury selections • Permanent sub-committee of the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee • Members are visual arts professionals • Meets once per month; average volunteer hours per year (8 members): 250 person hours 16-20 CSD-11-103 Appendix B Project Schedule Charles & Country Public Art Cube Benton Hills Library Web Page Digital 2010 Garage Projections Youth Videos Cube 2011 Kitchener Operations Kingsdale McLennan Digital Projections gullas City Centre Kitchener Library, Public Art Facility CC Park Youth Sculptures Courtyard Queen St. Brochure Videos Cube Parking Digital Guidelines 2012 Facility, Belmont Enhanced Projections Bridgeport Otto St for Civic Ave Signage Youth CC (TBC) developers District Videos 2013 2014 Charles & Water St. Garage 2015 2016 Mill * Courtland CC *Estimated timi 16 - 21