How to improve Toronto’s public art
Report recommends new vision for projects, including targeting underserved areas and hiring more diverse artists.

TheStar.com
Oct. 30, 2017
Chris Hampton

It’s been called the heyday. Toronto now boasts a collection of public art of over 700 works.

Thanks to a tool included in Ontario’s Planning Act known as Section 37, which lets developers trade community benefits for extra height and density, the city’s art holdings have grown with its skyline.

But despite the boom, public art policies haven’t changed much since they were formalized shortly after amalgamation. A joint academic study titled “Redefining Public Art in Toronto,” by teams at OCAD University and the University of Toronto, authored by Sara Diamond and Daniel Silver, demands a new vision.

Identifying program shortfalls and proposing ways forward, the report aims to modernize public art policy and practice for a more dynamic, livable city — now and into Toronto’s future. Here’s some of what’s inside.

Public art deserts

“Looking at an inventory map,” Silver says, “one of the most striking things you’ll see is how concentrated public art is.” Because of its relationship to development — and the rigid nature of that policy — public art mainly grows in the shadows of new building projects. That means large swathes of the city’s inner suburbs have been neglected. The report recommends pooling art funds contributed by developers and by the city’s own capital projects to target underserved areas.

City funds

Toronto has a “Percent (sic) for Public Art” policy where a portion of funds from major municipal projects is reserved for art. But which projects trigger that contribution is determined by planning on a project-by-project basis. The Pan Am Sports Centre in Scarborough, for example, merited a commission by the Quebec trio BGL. A new overpass might not. The report asks that, as in Calgary and the province of Quebec, all municipal builds and renovations set aside a portion of funding for public art.

Temporary artworks

“There’s a sense here that if you’re going to invest in public art it has to be permanent, it has to be monumental and it has to be forever,” Diamond says. Toronto’s current policy framework doesn’t allow semi-permanent work, though elsewhere — Montreal and Vancouver, for example — it’s become common practice. Temporary projects better accommodate contemporary practices like video, digital art and interactive media. They also build opportunities for emerging talents.

Artist inequities

There are many more works of public art by men than women. There are very few by Indigenous artists. “We think juries should be aware of this,” Diamond says. “We need to be conscious of this in a curatorial way.”

Promotion

“There’s a lot happening and people just don’t know it,” Silver says. “There’s been excitement around the Bentway project and Waterfront Toronto has drawn attention to art in the West Don Lands (Jennifer Marman and Daniel Borins’ The Water Guardians have become something of a symbol there). But the city’s broader collection needs to be more visible. Diamond and Silver imagine educational programming around the works and better digital resources. As in Chicago, public art could become a city attraction, Diamond says.

“Redefining Public Art in Toronto” recommends:

1. A renewed vision for public art in Toronto

2. Redefining public art

3. Robust funding for public art

4. Promoting public art

5. Public art everywhere

6. Simplifying processes

7. Building new collaborations

8. Integrating public art into all future planning