Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

Director, Office of Cultural Affairs

SUBJECT:

Public Art Allocations from 1997-99 Capital Plan

 

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER’S COMMENTS

POLICY

City Council adopted a public art program for civic and private development in 1990 (revised 1994). A Community Public Art Program was adopted in 1994.

City Council provided $750,000 for public art projects in the 1997-1999 Capital Plan. On May 8, 1997, Council allocated $150,000 for 1997 civic public art projects. On 14 May, 1998, Council allocated $290,000 for 1998 civic public art projects. $310,000 has been set aside for 1999 civic public art projects.

PURPOSE

This report recommends allocations totalling $490,000 to 1999 public art projects including Community Public Art, Artists in Residence, Greenways, Keefer Plaza, Civic Infrastructure, and the Trans Canada Trail. Separate allocations to project management and to Program administration are also identified. The recommended budget of $490,000 is based on a 1999 capital allocation to the Program of $310,000 this year, and $180,000 carried forward from 1998. Council approval of the recommended allocations, more fully described in Appendix A, leaves approximately $10,000 in the Public Art Unallocated budget.

BACKGROUND

The public art program has three components. The Civic Public Art Program develops public art at new and existing capital developments; the Community Public Art Program responds to community initiatives; the Private Sector Program develops public art at major new private developments. All projects recommended in this report are based on civic funds, through either the Community Public Art or the Civic Public Art programs. With the advice of the Public Art Committee, staff have reviewed a wide variety of Civic Capital works, and have recommended those having strong public art potential. These are defined as projects which:

· advance capital project goals or other civic objectives such as interpretive programs; anti-graffiti initiatives; Greenways, Bike Routes, and the like.

· provide opportunities for artists to create art work that inspires civic pride and identifywithin a comprehensive community consultation process.

· are sited in areas having high public use or public realm impact, thereby contributing to Vancouver’s distinct character and sense of place.

DISCUSSION

Community Public Art: $85,000

The Community Public Art Program provides grants to nonprofit groups which sponsor artist-and-community collaborations on projects which address neighbourhood needs or aspirations. Projects generally have fostered community pride, neighbourhood identity, and sense of place. Since 1994, 47 projects have been funded and 38 are now complete (8 projects approved on 14 January, 1999, are all underway).

From the Program’s inception in 1994, improvements to implementation and administrative efficiency have been introduced annually. This year, staff intend to focus outreach efforts on neighbourhoods to enhance their ability to identify significant local sites, opportunities, or issues. The intent is to ensure funding requests are balanced between artist and community initiatives.

As before, individual project applications will be recommended by staff and community members, then presented to Council for consideration. later this year.

Public Art Program Communications and Outreach Costs: $20,000

The Public Art Program incurs Program communication costs for public outreach and consultation, printing, publication of the Panorama newsletter, advertising, display of artist models, exhibitions, meeting expenses, and the like.

Artist Materials: $10,000

Since 1996, Council has provided $10,000 to community centres or other nonprofit sponsors of Artist in Residence projects. City funds are directed to the purchase of art construction materials. Artists in Residence are selected through a city-wide competition conducted by Park Board with the advice of City public art staff. City funds contribute directly to project quality, and City participation enables project sponsors (who provide majority funding) to attract other funds.

This year the Sunset, Britannia, False Creek and Roundhouse community centre associations, and the Stanley Park Ecology Society, are sponsoring projects. As before, we seek Council approval of $10,000, with allocations to the individual Associations released on the authority of the Director, Office of Cultural Affairs, following detailed staff assessment of individual project needs. Projects for 1999 are described in Appendix A.

Ridgeway and Local Greenways: $115,000

Phase one Ridgeway art works were installed at two parks, at one street closure, and on top of 17 utility poles along the 37th Avenue Greenway. A continuation of this popular project is recommended. Public art staff will work with the Greenways community consultation process to identify unique sites along the route, as well as commission more “utility pole” art works, a defining feature of this Greenway.

Staff will also respond to requests from Neighbourhood Greenways, which provide opportunities for artists to increase the identity and distinction of these popular local amenities. Previous examples include “Leaf Benches” at 15th and Prince Albert; the John St. “Dry Stream”; and the way-finding “totems” and trail markers at Renfrew Ravine.

Keefer Triangle: $100,000

Engineering Services have now completed improvements to a triangular road allowance at Keefer and Columbia. As part of a broader initiative to revitalize Chinatown, Chinatown Merchants (CMA) and others are working to develop this site into a signature public place, and, in response to requests from the CMA and other organizations, public art staff have proposed an ideas competition, leading to a public display of proposals which would be the focus of a fund-raising campaign, prior to commission.

In addition to CMA, representatives of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Gardens, the Chinese Benevolent Association, Chinese Veterans, Chinese Freemasons and several other organizations have formed an advisory group to work with staff on this project. This group, with the additional support of the Chinatown Heritage Area Planning Committee and the Chinese Cultural Centre, seek to commission art work which draws on the rich architectural and cultural history of Chinatown to increase the profile of the plaza, while improving its utility and function as a transit stop and meeting place. The artist’s brief will emphasize the cultural legacy of Chinatown, the integrity of the existing plaza design, and the desire to increase site amenity for pedestrians, transit users, residents and tourists.

Staff recommend $100,000 to launch this project and to challenge other funding agencies and the community. Staff note the project may qualify for federal and provincial millennium funds, and a fundraising campaign to match the City contribution is expected to be well received by Chinatown merchants and the community.

Civic Infrastructure: $75,000

Public art and Engineering staff continue to explore opportunities for artists to enhance civic infrastructure. The aim is to add artistic interest to common components which appear throughout the city, or to embellish stand-alone projects such as the new replacement bridges over Grandview Cut at Lakewood and Nanaimo.  In the infrastructure process, public art funds pays for value added by the artist’s intervention, enabling artists in many instances toaccess base budgets provided through Engineering Services.

In addition to stand alone projects, the public art committee wishes to pursue artist opportunities on repeat elements such as tree grates, lamp-standards, bollards, and the like.

Trans Canada Trail: $25,000

The Trans Canada Trail enters Vancouver at the Vancouver-Burnaby Boundary at a site underneath Iron Workers Memorial Bridge. Trail use is expected to increase substantially as the Trail nears completion. In addition to Trail advocates, the Iron Workers Union, the City of Burnaby, train spotters and others wish to participate in a public art process for this site. We recommend a contribution of up to $25,000 for a public art process to mark this entrance way, which would be run under City public art auspices.

Project management Funds: $60,000

Consistent with the private sector public art process, civic project management costs for public art projects are restricted to a maximum of 20% of public art budgets. To date, these costs have been deducted from individual project budgets. While 20 % of larger project budgets is more than sufficient to cover these costs, it is insufficient to cover the relatively fixed management costs of smaller projects (those having budgets from $10,000 to $40,000). This means some small projects are not pursued, despite their potential to add artistic interest and value to many interesting corners of the city.

With the advice of Finance staff, we propose a stand-alone project management budget, equalling 19% of all projects pursued, to fund project management services. This will enable management costs to be amortized over large and small projects, but remain within the 20% guideline.

The Public Art Committee recommends the above allocations to Council for approval.

TABLE 1

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APPENDIX A

1999 Artists in Residence

Five artists have recently been selected to participate in the 1999 Artist in Residence Program funded by The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, the participating Community Centre Associations and the City of Vancouver’s Office of Cultural Affairs.

Jacqui Metz and Nancy Chew of Muse Atelier
at Sunset Community Centre

The Imprints project will involve community members in creating permanent legacies of their presence in the neighbourhood. People will be invited to express their ideas about the impressions they make in their community and the impact that being part of the community has on them. They will draw images and words that express these ideas. The artists will create a set of templates representative of the participants’ work. These will then be used to sandblast or stamp the words and images into the concrete of the newly renovated entry area into Sunset Community Centre.

Both artists received their Bachelors of Arts and Bachelors of Architecture from the University of British Columbia. Together as Muse Atelier Ltd. they were awarded the public art contract for the Visibility Public Art competition to create Automata - Moving Pictures on the corner of Broadway and Clarke Drive in Vancouver. The artists are also working on a public artwork for the National Capitol Commission in Ottawa.

For more information call Sunset Community Centre programmer, Patti Turko at 718-6515.

Eric Neighbour
at False Creek Community Centre

Community carving will be happening in the park area around the False Creek Community Centre this year. Artist Eric Neighbour will be soliciting drawings representing the neighbourhood and familiarizing himself with the issues and attributes that make False Creek unique. After combining the drawings into a cohesive design, the carving will begin. The sound of carvers mallets tap-tapping on the steel gouges will invite passers by to have a closer look and perhaps to participate in shaping the wood into a sculpture which will then be installed on the community centre grounds.

Eric earned his Fine Arts Diploma with a major in sculpture from the Central School of Fine Arts in Toronto and has a Mechanical Engineering Diploma from George Brown College.

He has worked with nine communities creating large-scale, wooden sculptures in central Canada; this will be his first such project in British Columbia.

For more information call False Creek Community Centre programmer Doug Taylor at 257-8198.

Moyra Stewart
at Britannia Community Services Centre

Working with community members, artist Moyra Stewart will be designing a clay based project focusing on issues and events in the Britannia neighbourhood. The artist writes, “Clay is a wonderful medium for community projects. Children and adults work easily together; many people have an innate curiosity about clay, and wish to explore it...when people have the opportunity to participate in making art, they value it more. One person making one tile is a small thing but when 200 or 300 people all do it and the result is put together, the whole is much more than the sum of its parts.”

Moyra graduated from the Edinburgh College of Art and has taught pottery in both London, England and Victoria, B.C. She has worked as a facilitator and theme creator for the clay site at the Children’s Art Festival for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria for the past eight years and as a mural facilitator at the Saanich Community Arts Event in 1998.

For more information call Britannia Community Services Centre programmer Lori Harkins at 718-5825.

Kristine Kavalec
at The Lost Lagoon Nature House in Stanley Park

The Stanley Park Ecology Society will be hosting a mixed media project with artist Kristine Kavalec this summer. The public will be invited to participate in creating images representing the birds, plants and insects to be found in the surroundings of Lost Lagoon. Informal discussions and a variety of art making activities such as printmaking and painting will result in both artworks for participants to take away and in a permanent large scale mural covering the five roll-up doors of the Nature House.

Kristine graduated from the Emily Carr Institute for Art and Design, has taught at various community centres, schools and at Arts Umbrella. She has created four large murals locally and works as a print shop assistant at Dundarave Print Workshop.

For more information call the Stanley Park Ecology Society Director at 257-6908.

The decision for the Roundhouse’s Artist in Residency was not available at the time this issue of Live Art went to press.

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