Airdrie City council approved a request from staff to include a revised and improved Art in Civic Spaces program as part of the Cultural Planning and proposed Civic Master Planning processes at its regular March 7 meeting.
The Art in Civic Spaces program provides guidelines for the display of artwork in City Hall – including Council Chambers and meeting rooms – the Bert Church Live Theatre and Genesis Place Recreation Centre.
Community Planner Daniel Fortier told council, “on June 15, 2015, City council requested staff to research the feasibility of rotating community artwork in Council Chambers. Since then, council endorsed the Cultural Policy to guide arts and cultural planning in Airdrie. To explore this request, Administration used the Cultural Policy to guide the rationale for placing community art in Council Chambers.
“To fully take advantage of this opportunity would require council to wait until the Cultural Master Plan was drafted – expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2017 – and the plans around the Civic Master Plan were more concrete before making a decision on whether to move forward with placing artwork within Council Chambers (existing or in future development).”
Artists have been able to display artwork at Bert Church Live Theatre, Genesis Place and City Hall meeting rooms since 2012. Fortier said a poll of those artists taking part indicated they prefer to display their work in public areas with high visibility, some level of security and adequate lighting – Bert Church Live Theatre and Genesis Place are the preferred venues.
The artwork display at the Bert Church Live Theatre is picked in collaboration with the Airdrie Regional Arts Society and chosen via a call to artists on a first come, first served basis.
Fortier told council artists who are asked to display their works are entitled to be paid a royalty fee under Canada’s copyright laws and the City has a “moral and ethical responsibility” to do so. The City has not been paying these fees to artists and Fortier recommended that be changed as part of the revised Art in Civic Places program.
The collection of these royalties is done by Canadian Artists Representation (CARFAC). Fortier said the estimated annual fees for Council Chambers – denoted as a non-commercial, non-traditional gallery space would be $1,700, as the artwork would be changed on a quarterly basis.
Budget and program details will come back to council for approval once the Cultural Master Plan and Civic Master Plan are completed.
“We need to have someone actually come in and do a full evaluation on the install because we have to find out what kind of fixtures that we actually want within the space,” Fortier said. “We’ll be coming back with a full budget and details about how the program itself should function for the City.”
