HomeMy WebLinkAboutCSD-08-097 - Public Art Policy AmendmentREPORT
Report To: Council
Date of Meeting: December 8, 2008
Submitted By: Mark Hildebrand, Director, Community Programs and
Services
Prepared By: Cheryl York, Arts/Culture Co-ordinator
Ward(s~ Involved: All
Date of Report: December 2, 2008
Report No.: CSD-08-097
Subject: Public Art Policy Amendment
RECOMMENDATION:
That the recommendation of the Community Services Committee regarding the Public Art
Policy be amended by changing the reference to the Community Services Department
report from CSD-08-093 to CSD-08-097.
BACKGROUND:
Community Services Department Report 08-093 was presented to the Community Services
Committee on December 1, 2008. However, the new public art policy omitted the existing upper
limit of $300,000 on the amount allocated to civic public art projects through the one percent
funding mechanism.
REPORT:
The former Percent for Art policy ~I-650) detailed the use of the one percent funding mechanism
as follows: "The City of Kitchener will allocate 1% of the budget for construction costs of civic
buildings or other civic projects intended for general public use, to a maximum of $300,000, to
be used toward the commission of art to be displayed in public areas or as part of the building
structure...".
The new public art policy, Section 4.3, needs to reiterate this policy point. Therefore, the
wording is to be amended to "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." The policy document attached
to this report reflects the revised wording.
Mark Hildebrand, Director, Community Programs and Services
COUNCIL POLICY RESOLUTION
POLICY NUMBER: DATE: November 2008
POLICY TYPE:
SUBJECT: PUBLIC ART POLICY
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.
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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.
2.5 The policy does not govern programming under the Industrial Artifacts Project title,
nor the Artist-in-Residence program.
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COUNCIL POLICY RESOLUTION
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.
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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 sparks, 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.
4.4 Civic construction projects contributing to the consolidated capital account are
eligible for a public art project as follows:
^ 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
^ 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.
^ 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.
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COUNCIL POLICY RESOLUTION
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.
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 grantor 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 art work maintenance.
5.1.2. The Arts and Culture Advisory Committee's permanent sub-committee, the Public
Art Working Group (PAWL}, 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 PAWL 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.
5.2 Project Planning
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.
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COUNCIL POLICY RESOLUTION
5.5 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.
5.6 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.
5.7 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.
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