St. Albert residents will soon have an easier way to weigh in on public art.
The city is going to be drawing up a bylaw for a new council committee on public art, thanks to a motion from Coun. Natalie Joly that received the support of most city councillors Monday night. The motion passed 6-1 with Coun. Ray Watkins casting the sole vote against it.
Right now, the city has a public art advisory committee – a volunteer standing committee that advises the city on its public art collection. Mayor Cathy Heron confirmed the new committee would replace that one.
Kelly Jerrott, director of community services for the city, said the big difference between the committee that exists now and a council committee for art is who will sit on the committee.
"The main difference is the big change in governance structure, in terms of the composition of the committee and that it would be a council-appointed committee," she said.
Right now, the city has trouble finding enough people to sit on the art committee because it requires volunteers to be experts in an art-related field like landscaping or visual arts.
That requirement is so narrow that the majority of the committee's members do not even live in St. Albert: only two of the committee's six current members are city residents.
The proposed committee would fix that. Joly's motion included a requirement for committee members to reside in St. Albert. It also requires only four of the committee's five to nine members to have experience or expertise as an artist, art educator or administrator, art historian, architect or landscape architect, or graphic designer.
Prior to voting in favour of Joly's motion, Coun. Wes Brodhead said there would be value in having some non-experts serve on the committee.
"It's hard, in that art is truly in the eye of the beholder and what is art to one is not to another," Brodhead said.
"It just seems that sometimes we load our committee with experts – (but) the normal person doesn't understand what is happening."
He pointed to the city's most recent public art installation, Migration, at the St. Anne traffic circle, as an example, noting many residents did not realize public consultation was done on that piece.
Coun. Sheena Hughes said councillors often hear from people who disagree with public art decisions, but council isn't currently involved with the public art process. The proposed committee would keep them in the loop more, since one of the committee members would have to be a councillor.
Joly said part of her reason for the motion was to raise the profile of the public art committee.
"Right now, we are hearing there are issues finding volunteers to apply for (the current committee)," she said.
"In a community that is so passionate about arts and public art, I think that this committee would benefit from a higher profile."
Heron said the proposed committee would be more open, transparent and accessible to the public.
"The current structure is difficult to understand as a resident, because it's difficult to figure out as a councillor and a mayor," she said.
"I could not tell you who sits on that committee. It's probably time ... it (becomes) more in the public eye and open."
She added she wants the city's public art process to have more input from residents.
"Whether it is a temporary display or a permanent installation, and public money being spent, the public needs to be aware of it, needs to be able to contribute to it, the meetings need to be open, there needs to be stuff in the Gazette advertising what they will be talking about," she said.
City staff will bring a draft of a bylaw to establish the new committee forward to council at a later date, where it will need to pass three readings before the committee is officially established. If that happens, the committee's meetings will need to be publicly advertised, just like other council committee meetings are.
