Georgina Public Art Policy

Project Description:

Georgina is a gorgeous community on the southern shores of Lake Simcoe including Keswisk, Willow Beach, Sutton West and Roches Point, sharing the land with The Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation.

As a growing community, rich in natural resources, the Town wanted to create a public art policy that aligned with these resources and gave them guidance on how a program could be unique to their values. By engaging cultural leaders and artists, city staff from multiple departments and residents in a process of learning, we brought the community common understanding of the public art process, developed a commissioning, jury and management structure, but most importantly a curatorial focus on a program anchored in ‘environmental responsiveness’.

This focus not only brought the program into alignment with their community values, but also allowed it function within an approach that matched their potential budget by embracing projects that may be temporary, smaller, primarily using natural materials, and potentially community-based.

Client: Town of Georgina

Collaborators: City staff, artists and cultural organizations, BIAs, residents

Website: https://www.georgina.ca/publicart

City: Georgina, ON

Date: 2013