We looked at other cities that have arms-length organizations successfully running their public art programs. Some examples include Edmonton Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council.

• Moving to an external organization will not change the current Public Art Policy.
• The City will still maintain a corporate public art budget that dedicates one percent of capital project funds to making public art in Calgary.
• The public art collection will continue to be owned by The City of Calgary and citizens.
• The program remains accountable to national and international trade agreements, but will support our local creative economy and arts sector as much as possible.

• Procurement and communications processes for new public art will be simplified to be more accessible and support a diversity of artists.
• The external organization will run the operations of the program including community programming, calls for artists, community engagement and the procurement of new public art.

Public art is one of a number of service lines Council has asked Administration to move to an external service model. As an organization, The City already works in partnership with private organizations to deliver multiple services. Council and Administration are continually looking for the most effective ways to deliver services that meet Calgarians’ needs.​

On September 30, 2019, Council directed Administration to hire a third-party consultant to review the public art program. They were tasked with examining options for the program to be managed by an external organization. Doing so will help:

• Deliver a streamlined program for Calgarians
• Reduce red-tape and be more directly connected with the arts community and Calgarians.
• Allow a more holistic and equitable approach to public art projects across Calgary that don't have to be tied to new infrastructure.
• Create better accountability, transparency and flexibility in how public art is implemented across the city​.
• Attract a more diverse range of artists and allow art in more varied locations throughout Calgary.

On November 25, 2019, the consultant, Art + Public UnLtd, shared their findings publicly at Council.

On April 6, 2020 Council approved that Administration should proceed with next steps to move the public art program to an external organization. These steps include:

• Engagement with the public and arts stakeholders on what they’d like to see in a future public art program (learn about the public engagement and view the results)
• Developing a procurement process to select an external organization to operate the future program