Public art policy being created by City of Summerside

Summerside hopes to inspire more artists to create for the city by establishing its first public art policy.

It's important that public art be created with a public audience in mind, says Lori Ellis, Culture Summerside's manager of heritage and cultural properties.

The policy will include procedures on how city staff puts out calls for art and how to make the final selections. This will ensure all public art is approached in a fair and systematic way, says Ellis.

"It's really about capitalizing on opportunities that maybe we hadn't thought about or hadn't prepared ourselves to think about," said Ellis.

"A public art policy nods its head towards a higher thinking about artwork in a community."

Charlottetown is also creating a long-term public art strategy. The arts advisory board recently held a public meeting to discuss what art in public means to residents.