New Winnipeg public art funding program moves forward

A new public art program could restore hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding that the City of Winnipeg eliminated last year, but one advocacy organization says it would like to see more.

The city's public art program ran for 20 years, from 2004 to 2024. It helped fund dozens of art projects, including sculptures and murals in prominent places like parks and near bus stops.

The city gave $500,000 a year for public art until 2019, after which the funding was gradually cut until it was eliminated entirely last year.

Now, the city is proposing dedicating 0.25 per cent of eligible capital funding to a pool for public art. That would raise approximately $208,000 a year.

"Under a pooled percent-for-art program, all eligible investments include a specified percentage of the construction budget for public art," Danny Tooth, the city's acting manager of major capital projects oversight, wrote in a report.

"However, instead of being tied to a specific capital project, funds are pooled and allow for more strategic decisions on where public art is implemented."

The Winnipeg Arts Council has partnered with the city on many public art projects. Examples include the Rooster Town Kettle by artist Ian August, at the Beaumont Station rapid transit stop, which pays homage to an historic Métis community. Over on Main Street, a sculpture of a partially toppled streetcar created by Bernie Miller and Noam Gonick commemorates the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike.

The board chair of the Winnipeg Arts Council says these public art pieces and others serve as conversation-starters.

"People who maybe aren't familiar with that history can see these things and start to wonder, why is there a streetcar or a big kettle here?" Andrew McLaren said in an interview at city hall on Tuesday.

"It helps them sort of get a trigger to learn more about their community."

The arts council likes the new model, but would like the city to dedicate more money to it.

"Other cities, one per cent [of capital funding] is kind of a benchmark that is applied in other places. It also would get us closer to the $500,000 that we used to have as a line item in the capital budget," McLaren said.

On Tuesday, the executive policy committee voted unanimously to move the program forward.

It will be included in an upcoming review of council's strategic priorities action plan, set to take place in 2027 — after the next civic election, but before the next round of multi-year budget planning.