Dawes Road Revitalization Project

Proposed Boulevard Greening, Street Furniture, Bike Lanes, Intersection Improvements, Public Art.

Dawes Rd – Danforth Ave to Victoria Park

Reconfigured Intersection

Dawes RdBoulevard Greening

Dawes Rd – Boulevard Greening

Dawes Rd – Danforth Ave to Victoria Park

390 Dawes Rd.

Dawes Rd – Lay-by parking and boulevard improvements

Dawes Rd – Danforth Ave to Victoria Park

Dawes Rd – Danforth Ave to Victoria Park

Dawes Rd – Target time lines

Detailed Design Summer/Fall 2010

Construction/Contract bidding Winter/Spring 2011

Construction Summer/Fall 2011

Final Completion Late Fall 2011

The Public Spaces of a Creative City

Public Art Commissioning and Artist Selection Processes

The City of Toronto aims to commission innovative public art works that:

• are relevant to their community and context

• enrich the experience of Toronto’s residents and visitors

• are of the highest artistic quality

What is Public Art? Public art is not a discipline or profession. Public art is an idea, a way of thinking about art.It is situated at the crossroads of aesthetics, public life, cultural ideas, and

political issues. It is an art which is absolutely engaged with the world.

Public art encourages and expedites connections between private and public, intimate space and municipal space, the individual body and community.

(Patricia C. Phillips)

Public art is part of our public history, part of our evolving culture and our collective memory.

It reflects and reveals our society and adds meaning to our cities. As artists respond to our times, they reflect their inner vision to the outside

world and they create a chronicle of our public experience. (Penny Balkin Bach)

What is Public Art?Public Art:• Encourages engagement with the City • Enhances our relationship to the spaces we share• Develops the special identity and character of neighbourhoods• Tells the story of people, places and events• Highlights and plays on social, political and historical themes• Offers engaging alternatives for the commemoration of individuals, groups

or events• Addresses ideas of sustainability and environmental awareness in unique

ways• Results in landmark focal points and destination places• Attracts visitors to the City• Integrates creative planning and design objectives when developing plazas,

parks and open spaces, and streetscape elements• Stimulates the public and private economy through job creation for arts

related professions and trades

• enhance community sense of ownership and value by commissioning works that are site-specific and encourage awareness of collective heritages and neighbourhood identities.

• stimulate a high calibre of urban design by enhancing the visual quality of the built environment and incorporating original artworks into the infrastructure of the City.

• ensure a high quality of artworks by valuing artists and the artistic process, providing a range of opportunities to artists at various stages of their careers, allowing for innovation and respecting the creative rights of artists.

• ensure that all artworks in the City of Toronto collection will be part of a regular programme of maintenance and preservation.

How does Toronto Culture achieve these goals?

Through equitable and objective selection processes with valuable input from community members and guidance from relevant professionals.

Artist Selection Process

• The City of Toronto operates competitions as its primary form of artist selection process. Depending on requirements specific to the project, the competition may be open, limited or invitational.

• An open competition is favoured and most frequently practiced by Toronto. An open competition is a widely publicised call for artists to submit entries; this is the process most favoured by the City of Toronto and adhered to whenever project budget and timeframe allow.

Selection Committees

• An independent Selection Committee is convened for each public art commission under the City of Toronto’s jurisdiction.

• These selection panels select short-listed and winning artists, measuring the artist’s proposal and past work against the general goals of the City’s Public Art Policy and the specific objectives of the project at hand.

• The Selection Committee has a composition according to City Policy of 2 community members and 3 arts professionals. For every project, the City and Art Consultant strive to ensure that one of the art professionals is also a member of the local community.

Art Committee for Public Places (ACPP)

• The ACPP is a City-wide voluntary, advisory committee of arts professionals and Council representatives providing peer review for City public art projects.

• City staff seek the advice of the ACPP or its designated sub-committees prior to submitting reports dealing with public art on City property to Committee and Council.

Moth Gardens at Downsview Park Captures History of the Site

Meeting Place

Marking a Place

Gateway

Opportunities in the Public Art Process for Community Input:

1. Prioritization of sites and public art opportunities

2. Developments of the Terms of Reference for short listed artists

3. Opportunity to view and comment on design proposals from short listed artists

4. Community representation on the Selection Committee responsible for short listing artists and the winning design proposal

City staff typically work with the Councillor’s office to ensure that community consultation and representation is effective.