WESTLOCK — Town of Westlock councillors reviewed the new public art master plan and its associated public art policy, ultimately voting to rise and report and bring the plan back for adoption following first, second and third readings at the Nov. 12 regular council meeting.
Director of planning and development Danielle Pougher presented an overview for Wesrlock’s Public Art Master Plan (PAMP) that included what public art is, the different types of public art that would be considered, guiding principles for types of art, and some background on why certain art pieces would be chosen. Also noted was location criteria, a road map for the establishment of a public art program for Westlock and suggestions for public art projects.
The plan points out types of public art include sculptures, murals, light installations and multimedia.
Administration drafted the plan and an associated public art policy to help guide the creation of a Westlock-specific public art program.
“In addition to this public art master plan, we also prepared a policy which provides some further direction for administration as well as council on that start-up of that program,” said Pougher. “The policy contemplates the creation of a public art working group, which would be an internal town staff group with representatives from multiple departments to help guide the acquisition, maintenance and disposal of public art.”
The plan will help establish a vision for public art in the community and a framework for establishing and operating a public art program.
“The policy also sets out the roles and responsibilities of the various groups, so council would approve this policy and the amendments, adopt and amend the public art master plan and would consider the allocation of resources for the implementation in their annual budget process,” explained Pougher, pointing out the policy also provides different funding mechanisms for public art.
She also mentioned additional specific criteria regarding the selection of public art and sites, including artistic quality and creativity, compliance with specific project requirements, appropriateness of the work within the site and overall community, its durability, maintenance and conservation and budget and timeline considerations.
“There’s also specific criteria for sites. That includes sites that are accessible and visible, what the capacity of sites are in terms of safety, integrity, (and) physical constraints,” said Pougher, noting specific purposes for public art, that are outlined in the policy criteria for artists and donations and gifts of public art.
Councillors had a brief discussion, including questions about available funding and grants for public art, the amounts of public art installed and the timeline for those, whether there are permits or quality assurance requirements for private businesses who wish to display public art.
