Have you ever wondered what kind of home decorating you could do with a $400,000 budget? So does the City of Whitehorse, which is in the process of figuring out how to spend that amount on public art.
Council heard on Jan. 7 that the guidelines for the city’s public art policy say that one per cent of the capital construction costs of any new building must be used to purchase and install public art. The budget for the operations building is just over $40 million.
“As the majority of the Operations Building will not experience high volume of public visitation, many locations around the community have been identified to complement the space identified at the Operations Building,” reads an administrative report.
No one from the city was available to speak about those locations, though the report says that city administration, including the engineering, parks and community development, and planning and operations departments, have compiled a preliminary list of places.
The report further states that a committee was created in July 2018 to identify potential locations for installations, evaluate artist’s submissions, and award contracts.
The committee is made up of three to five artists and Whitehorse residents, as well as one representative from the city.
The city is currently looking for artists to sit on the committee.
A request for proposals is scheduled to be announced in the spring of 2019.
Contact Amy Kenny at amy.kenny@yukon-news.com