The City of Red Deer is looking at spending less on public art for large-scale construction projects.
On Monday, city council approved a draft resolution to change the city’s Public Art Policy so that one per cent of capital construction costs exceeding $250,000 would go towards public art — not 1.2 per cent as it stands now.
City staff looked at 16 other North American cities to see what they were doing and found that one per cent was the norm. New York City sets aside one per cent, along with other places like Lethbridge, Kelowna and Toronto. Chicago and Portland contributed the highest percentages of 1.33 each.
Culture Superintendent Kristina Oberg gave a detailed report that outlined the city’s strong support for art throughout the community. Last July, council approved more than $325,000 of art for Red Deer’s new downtown RCMP headquarters, the north-end police precinct, the renovated Golden Circle and a new fire/medic station in Johnstone Crossing.
The amount the city should spend on public art raised various opinions among civic leaders.
Councillor Lorna Watkinson-Zimmer suggested the percentage should be raised to 1.5 per cent because it would further strengthen the city’s public arts program. She remembers fighting hard to get the original amount of 1.2 per cent back in 1996, and since then, 27 pieces have been added to Red Deer’s landscape.
The city will have 56 pieces, once the new ones are installed.
“We were one of the first to be nominated the cultural capital of Canada (back in 2003),” said Watkinson-Zimmer. “We want to be progressive in arts and culture.”
Pimm agreed more municipal dollars should be spent on public art because it’s something residents can be proud of.
But several councillors said they supported staff’s recommendation of one per cent of capital construction costs.
“We have experienced huge construction inflation over the last three to five years,” said Councillor Tara Veer. “The policy has naturally been inflated.”
Councillor Gail Parks, who asked for the policy review, said residents would question council’s decision to raise the amount to 1.5 per cent during times of fiscal restraint.
The recommendation of one per cent was supported by eight members of council. Watkinson-Zimmer opposed.
“This is truly insane,” said Watkinson-Zimmer. “In 1996, we worked really hard to get this 1.2 per cent and now we are going back? What does this say to our art community? What does this say to our city?”
Pimm said he supporting the one per cent because it was still a “reasonable” amount.
Council also supported a number of other draft resolutions, including keeping the status quo of allowing artists from everywhere to compete for projects.
The city may also actively pursue a voluntary contribution among developers towards the public arts program.
Mayor Morris Flewwelling said council had a reason for only approving draft resolutions.
“Council was really workshopping its way through this and we felt it was important to do this in the public,” he said.
The proposed revised Public Art Policy will come back to a future council meeting for approval.
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com