If all goes according to plan, some 80 streetlights downtown will be adorned with artistic banners year-round starting in 2025, as part of a new pilot public art project.
The project, which was presented to and supported by the citizen-based Arts Development Advisory Committee (ADAC) on March 27, aims to liven up the downtown core and combat the loss of several murals in the area. It will also give those who historically haven't had the opportunity a chance to create public art, said Jacilyn Blackwood, a visual arts coordinator with the city.
“Our goal is to hire three artists, and each of those artists would design four banners, so there will be 12 designs in a row displayed down Perron Street, St. Thomas Street, St. Michael Street, and St. Anne Street,” Blackwood said. “What we would be looking for is artists that represent a diverse background, and then they would be invited to create artwork that aligns with their practice in their portfolio.”
The project's roughly $37,000 budget dates back to 2018, when council approved the use of $90,000 from the public art reserve to be spent on one or more diversity- and inclusion-oriented projects. Blackwood wasn't completely sure why the funding hadn't been used in the six years since council approved it, but she said the COVID-19 pandemic and staff turnover were likely factors.
The banners, which Blackwood said are about 1.5 metres long and about half a metre wide, will be attached to existing banner poles on downtown streetlights for 10 months of the year. Currently, the streetlights are only adorned with banners for two months of the year during the Christmas holiday season.
Blackwood said the next step in the project is for the city to publish a call for artists, which is expected to happen in May.
“Ideally, we'll have the artists selected by mid-to-late August, and then the artists will have a few months to create designs, and then the banners will be created and installed in February when they take the holiday banners down,” she said.
Emily Baker, this year's chair of the ADAC and a curator at the Art Gallery of St. Albert, said in an interview she and the ADAC are fully supportive of the project.
“I really like the idea of the project because it opens the opportunity for public art up to a lot of different kinds of artists,” she said. “You don't have to be somebody who specializes in big bronze sculptures or murals; anyone who works in any medium can have the opportunity to sort of put their name in the ring for this project.”
“A lot of artists who have been like historically unrecognized in the city's public art collection, there's a much lower barrier to entry for them, so any artists who are part of one of those under-recognized or under-represented groups in the cities collection are really encouraged to take part.”
Baker said the volume of art the project will bring downtown is another major benefit, especially after one of the city's five downtown murals was removed last summer, and another two murals downtown are set to be removed this spring.
“It's something that I'm pretty excited about because [the banners] are going to be everywhere in the downtown core and it'll bring so much beauty and I feel it's kind of making up a bit for the loss of the three murals,” said Baker.
“I think it's going to be a really beautiful project, bringing a lot connection and beauty and wonder and kind of inspiration to everywhere in the downtown, and making it really lively all year round, not just when the Christmas lights are up in the winter time.”
