Item - 2023.EC8.2

The Economic and Community Development Committee recommends that:

1. City Council adopt the Phase 1: Toronto Public Art Strategy Implementation Plan (2024-2026) and Three Year Work Plan Summary (2024-2026), included as Attachment 1 and 2 in the report (November 14, 2023) from the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture; Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning; General Manager, Transportation Services.

2. City Council direct the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, and the General Manager, Transportation Services, in consultation with other impacted City Divisions, report to the Economic and Community Development Committee in the first quarter of  2027 with recommended actions for Phase 2 of the Toronto Public Art Strategy Implementation Plan, spanning 2027-2030.

The Toronto Public Art Strategy (2020-2030) was adopted by City Council in late 2019 and set out a ten-year plan to enhance the City's commitment to public art for the benefit of all residents and visitors, with a vision of “creativity and community, everywhere”. City Council directed staff to report back with an implementation plan for the ten-year strategy in 2020, but this was delayed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the strategy was launched with ArtworxTO: Toronto's Year of Public Art ('ArtworxTO') in 2021, which showcased over 350 public art projects across the city, and served as a pilot for testing many of the actions proposed in the Strategy.

Taking the pandemic-related delay into account, as well as key learnings from ArtworxTO, Economic Development and Culture (EDC), City Planning (CP) and Transportation Services (TS) are proposing a revised approach to implementing the Toronto Public Art Strategy over an extended period spanning 2024-2034. The implementation plan will be divided into three phases:

• Phase 1 short-term (2024-2026);
• Phase 2 medium-term (2027-2030), and;
• Phase 3 long-term (2031-2034).

This report outlines Phase 1, a short-term approach for the next 3 years (2024-2026), which includes eleven action items that build on the foundations of the City’s three core public art programs – the City of Toronto Public Art and Monuments Collection, the Percent for Public Art Program, and StreetARToronto (StART) – as well as the recent success of ArtworxTO. This report also commits to developing medium- and long-term actions for the second and third phases. Combined, the three phases encapsulate the entire Toronto Public Art Strategy Implementation Plan, to help Toronto build a collection of public art unlike any other in the world – one that is deeply connected to Indigenous Placemaking, the cultural expression of our diversity, and reflective of an aesthetic that is unique to our city.

The eleven action items proposed for Phase 1 of the Toronto Public Art Strategy Implementation Plan are:

1. Enhance existing and develop new career-building resources and mentorship programs for emerging public artists;

2. Establish new public art trail as a signature destination on the waterfront;

3. Create opportunities and partnerships for temporary public art;

4. Amplify communications and public-facing resources regarding public art;

5. Increase artist diversity and promote inclusivity in Toronto’s Public Art Collection;

6. Advance Truth and Reconciliation by empowering Indigenous artists and co-creating public art;

7. Sustain the momentum of the Artist-In-Residence program;

8. Establish guidelines for integrating public art into municipal capital projects;

9. Produce additional public art master plans for more neighbourhoods across Toronto;

10. Strengthen the management of the City’s Public Art Collection;

11. Incorporate recent legislative changes into the Percent for Public Art Program.

These eleven actions will contribute to achieving a vision for a city committed to public art that is accessible to all, reinforces neighbourhood character, embraces diversity, and advances the careers of local artists.