Saskatoon city councillors are set to vote on potentially limiting funding for public art installations. It comes after the city spent $297,400 on three boulder sculptures made from recycled plastic - which have drawn mixed reviews among taxpayers. The city’s governance and priorities committee will meet Wednesday to vote on a motion from Ward 5 Coun. Randy Donauer, who wants to limit the amount of public art funding that’s currently built into certain capital projects. “I’ve expressed my concern about the amount that this capital art program allocates, and I would like to see the percentage coming down,” Donauer said last month after providing his notice of motion. The policy allows for up to one per cent of the budget of capital projects to be devoted to public art, as long as the city is spending at least $5 million on the project. Art projects are capped at $500,000 spending. The three plastic boulders — which are installed at the landfill, the Foresty Farm Park and Zoo, and Diefenbaker Park — were paid for by the budget to build Material Recovery Centre on Valley Road. The $37.5 million Market Recovery Centre project was approved by council in 2021. The federal government contributed $14.3 million towards the project. The boulders make up 0.8 per cent of the material recovery centre budget. Calgary-based duo Sans façon was chosen to complete the art project by the city’s public art advisory committee. Called ‘Modern Erratics,’ each sculpture is modelled after rocks carried across the prairies by ancient ice sheets. The black and white rock at the forestry farm uses recycled black and white plastic grain bags commonly used on prairie farms. The piece at Diefenbaker Park is made of colourful recycled bottle caps provided by SARCAN, and the rock at the landfill was built from decommissioned, shredded, black, blue and green carts formerly used by households across the city. The history and meaning behind the art pieces seems to have been lost in the following weeks after residents learned of the price tag. A flurry of memes and criticism soon followed. “I think the frustration and the response that we’re getting from the community is valid,” Donauer said last month. Wednesday’s debate could be lengthy, with 11 people requesting to speak about the motion, and another 41 people submitting letters, many of which support the city’s policy. A majority of those in support of the current policy see Donauer’s motion as an overreaction to the current criticism the boulders are receiving. “Removing this funding stream would end a mechanism that has shaped public space across this city for over a decade, based on the response to a single commission, rather than an evaluation of the policy’s track record as a whole,” said Em Ironstar, the executive director of the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance. Others feel the city should have better control over what it funds. “Writing the cheque and then effectively washing our hands of the outcome is not good governance,” added Trevor Jacek, the CFO of MidWest Group, in a letter to the committee. “Saskatoon should be able to invest in a great city while still being thoughtful, disciplined and responsible with every taxpayer dollar.”
