Whitehorse Daily Star

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Linda Rapp

Council mulls updated art acquisition policy

One per cent of the construction costs for the proposed new city operations building will go to public artwork.

By Stephanie Waddell on March 7, 2017

One per cent of the construction costs for the proposed new city operations building will go to public artwork.

Whether that artwork is installed at the new building or elsewhere in town, however, could be left up to council.

That’s provided council adopts the proposed update to the city’s art policy.

Linda Rapp, the city’s director of community and recreation services, presented council with the proposed policy update at its meeting Monday evening.

Council voted in favour of doing a “narrow scope” review of the policy last September.

It did so after Coun. Dan Boyd had proposed a review of it. That had arisen out of concerns that more than $350,000 (one per cent of the estimated construction costs) would have to be set aside for art at the proposed new operations building.

At that time, he had pointed out that the building will essentially be a large industrial structure for city equipment that most of the public won’t be accessing.

At last night’s meeting, Rapp said in the time since council had voted for a narrow review of the policy, meetings were held with representatives from the territorial government’s arts branch, the Yukon Arts Centre and a delegate who had approached council on the issue last year.

There were also council and senior management meetings held in January and February on the issue.

“Each of the the policy review objectives were carefully investigated,” Rapp stated in her report to council after highlighting the six objectives of the review.

They are:

• providing clear definitions for public facilities and public buildings;

• clarity on where art can be placed when there is funding through the policy;

• establishing a regular review period and process for such reviews of the document;

• collecting feedback from the arts community;

• looking at establishing a fund from the arts policy rather than including it as part of the overall project; and

• housekeeping items such as updating department names and position titles.

“The draft policy fully incorporates the input received from council and the arts community representatives at those meetings and ensures that the outcome satisfies the objectives of the policy review,” Rapp said.

Among the biggest changes to the policy are the provision that would allow artwork – funded from the one per cent of a new building’s construction cost – to be located elsewhere in the city away from the new building.

That would allow for artwork to be in more accessible locations for the general public, she explained when questioned on it by Coun. Rob Fendrick.

An ad hoc committee that would be established by city administration would be responsible for making recommendations to council on art.

As it’s highlighted in the proposed policy: “In keeping with the principles set out in this policy, an ad hoc public art working group shall be established to consult with staff, review materials and make recommendations regarding potential acquisitions and disposition of public art.

“The working group shall also advise on the development of public art projects and any matters related to the development and promotion of public art.”

Questioned by Coun. Betty Irwin, Rapp confirmed that council would not be responsible for appointing anyone to the working group, though staff could inform council of who is serving on the committee.

As Rapp noted, that is typical of such ad hoc groups for the city.

All recommendations of the working group would come forward for council’s approval, she said.

A section of the policy around the ad hoc group notes it would “be established to work collaboratively with administration and the Whitehorse arts community to advocate for public art, advising on public art projects, policies, procedures, guidelines and plans as they relate to the City of Whitehorse Public Art Policy and in support of administrative staff and programs.”

It goes on to note that the group would operate at “arm’s length and report its activities and make recommendations as per standard administrative procedure.

“The ad hoc working group shall be appointed at the recommendation of administration and shall conduct their duties in accordance with council policies, the terms of reference and the management framework of the City of Whitehorse.”

A terms of reference attached to the policy outlines the responsibilities of the group.

Council is set to vote next week on the proposed updated policy.

Mayor Dan Curtis as well as councillors Samson Hartland and Dan Boyd were absent from Monday’s meeting.

Coun. Jocelyn Curteanu served as acting mayor.

Comments (3)

Up 11 Down 1

June Jackson on Mar 7, 2017 at 4:58 pm

Whitehorse is too small to start acquiring a permanent art collection. What kind of art? FN represented? Local canvas paintings, acrylics? beadwork? wood work? glass work? Syrian art? Philippine art? French art? Religions? Muslim art? Quilting? Christian art? This is such a huge can of worms. And there is storage. A different temperature control for everything, not to mention moisture deterioration and building a separate facility and hiring someone or some 2 people to maintain the collection? Who is going to determine what's art and what isn't? There's ol' Dan driving the crazy train.

I would suggest, that in buildings visited by the public, any artist be allowed to display their craft with contact information and pricing. Rotate it as needed. Every artist responsible for their display, with CoW perhaps picking up responsibility for security of the displays.

I do not want to pay for 1% of any artwork.

Up 32 Down 1

joe and Jane on Mar 7, 2017 at 4:27 pm

$ 350,000 for art ?? and my taxes keep going up. What is wrong with you guys??

Up 17 Down 11

north_of_60 on Mar 7, 2017 at 4:02 pm

A fixed amount of the annual budget should go to public artwork by Yukon artists.
It should NOT be tied to capital costs of new buildings, that's wrong.

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