Updated November 27, 2019
In a confidential Notice of Motion on Sept 30, 2019, Council directed Administration to hire a third-party consultant to review the Public Art program and examine options for moving it outside The City. Administration worked with the consultant to examine a number of delivery options for the Public Art program, including keeping it inside The City, starting a net new organization, and looking for external organizations to deliver the program.
The recommendation
The consultant’s findings were shared publicly at Council on Monday. The recommendation was to move the Public Art Program to an existing external organization. It was also recommended that The City of Calgary initiate a competitive process to select the best organization that could deliver the Public Art program.
Why this recommendation?
- An external model allows for a more nimble approach to delivering public art to Calgarians, including a simplified procurement process, more flexibility to hire a diversity of artists, and access to more communications channels and tools.
- Moving the program to an external organization provides opportunities to supplement the capital dollars with private funds from grants and donations, reducing the burden on tax payers.
- An external model would enable The City to grant fundng to the organization, without using tax dollars to fund the operations of the program, minimizing the burden on tax payers.
What happens now?
Further investigation is required to identify the requirements and work through the details of an external model. These details will be worked through by the consultant, in consultation with Administration and the local arts community, and will be brought to Council in late Q1 2020 for consideration. Council will make their final decision on whether the program remains inside The City or moves forward with the competitive process for external bids in Q2 2020.
How does this impact the engagement with the arts community that has been done over last few years?
The insight and feedback we’ve gathered from the arts community is extremely valuable and will continue to be used to help shape the Public Art program.