Mr. Eric Fiss

Olympic-Sized Collaboration Leads to Regional Public Art Network

Posted by Mr. Eric Fiss, Feb 13, 2013 3 comments


Mr. Eric Fiss

Eric Fiss Eric Fiss

It was late 2008, and I had recently taken up the position as Public Art Planner for the City of Richmond, British Columbia, when I was invited to two meetings in early 2009, discussing regional collaborative projects. These discussions took place during the run up to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games when international media attention would be focussed on our region.

The first meeting was for the Necklace Project, ten communities surrounding the City of Vancouver, working together to develop best practices and creating a series of public art projects on a unified theme. The ten participating communities were Burnaby, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, North Vancouver City, North Vancouver District, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Richmond, and Surrey.

The goal of the Necklace Project was to commission public art installations in all ten host municipalities and connect them through the theme of Illuminations, as well as encourage visitors to visit and experience each of the project sites.

For several of the communities this was their first public art project, and the support of more experienced communities, including administrative support from the Alliance for Arts and Culture and cultural planner, Oksana Dexter, were vital in realization of the projects.

As mutual support and best practices were crucial to the success of the Necklace Project (be sure to check out the Necklace Project website for a final report and critical essay coming soon!), one of the more experienced public art coordinators, Lori Phillips, serving both the City and District of North Vancouver, suggested we might want to formalize our collaboration to extend after the Necklace projects were complete and to and welcome other municipalities into our public art networking group.

Thus, the British Columbia Public Art Network (BC PAN) was born. In our many meetings to date we provide a roundtable to present work in progress, promote artist calls/unveilings, and discuss best practices from contracts to conservation.

Hosting meetings in varied locations gives each municipality an opportunity to showcase their achievements with presentations on innovative programs such as geo-caching, backlit transit displays, digital screens, highway improvement projects and QR-code tours, and of course incredible public art installations by local and international artists.

Members also report on what they have learned at other regional meetings of public art administrators, such as the Pacific Northwest’s (NoW PAC), Creative City Network of Canada, and Americans for the Arts' Public Art Network Preconference.

Have you tried creating a mini public art network for your region, state, or province? How has it helped promote and integrate public art as a vital component for enriching your community’s experience of art and culture? Tell us in the comments below.

 

3 responses for Olympic-Sized Collaboration Leads to Regional Public Art Network

Comments

February 14, 2013 at 6:23 pm

Sung Rim,
Yes, glad to assist. Please contact me at [email protected] and I can answer any questions and provide you with information on the Richmond, Vancouver and Whistler programs for public art and cultural celebrations.
Eric
[email protected]

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sung rim says
February 14, 2013 at 11:15 am

Thank you for your posting. I want to learn more about this for my home town's Winter Olympics in 2018.

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March 11, 2013 at 11:11 am

In Pittsburgh, we are working hard to get our 1977 ordinance for a Percent for Public Art set aside– enforced as the law that it is. We have an online petition that has drawn a rich and amazing response.

Pittsburgh Percent for Art Campaign Signer #678 Arlene Mercurio from New Kensington, PA says:
“Public art has been a huge, successful component of Philadelphia’s urban renewal. This is an exciting ‘low hanging fruit’ for revitalization.”

Read more awesome quotes and sign the petition! Click here:
http://signon.org/sign/enforce-pittsburghs-and

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