The Percent for Art program & Jan Harder

The following letter to the Editor of the Ottawa Citizen was send shortly after Councillor Jan Harder decided that the Percent for Art program in the city was not serving her ambitions at this time so it should be cut or eliminated.  It is interesting to note that Councillor Harder's own "householders" have advertised on numerous occasions that a call for submissions for Public Art was open for projects in her ward.

September 17, 2012

Letter to the Ottawa Citizen,

One fact about the City of Ottawa is that if you wait a bit you will have the opportunity to fight old battles again.  So it is with the Percent for Art program.  As a two term member of the Arts, Heritage and Culture Advisory Committee of the city (one of the few to be retained by the city), in 2003 I fought to ensure that the Percent for Art program was adhered to by city managers.  Although it was instituted before amalgamation, the program had been largely ignored by city managers.  Indeed, I remember when I asked for a copy of the directive for the program; the best the city could offer was a photocopy of a fax.  It had never even been retyped into the city policy files.

Now, in 2012, the fight begins again.  Councillor Jan Harder wants to cut the program in half or even eliminate it, all because her own project-of-the-week needs more money.

The purpose of the Percent for Art program is to spruce up facilities around the city, make the city more visually appealing and to the support the arts.  I may not agree with some of the art selected under the program but I will be the first to defend the need for it.

Let me offer Councillor Harder a bit of advice.  Instead of chopping at a program like Percent for Art, why not learn to work with it.  Why not find a way to incorporate art as an integral part of the project… let’s say a sculpture of a person on a bench, that also serves as a bench.  That would save the cost of a bench in the project.  If you need some help with that idea, check out what they did at the new City Archives building where architectural art complements what was already a stunning building.

Of course the Citizen decided not to print the letter.  I wonder why?