Public Art

The City of Lethbridge Public Art Committee provides leadership and support to the City in the coordination and implementation of the Public Art Master Plan and Public Art Policy. The Art Committee is an administrative committee of the Recreation and Culture Department at the City of Lethbridge. 

The Public Art Committee operates in an advisory capacity, reporting its activities to City Council as required. All Committee members are volunteers and the Committee meets approximately six times a year.

The Committee includes three public members. If you are interested in being notified of vacancies on this Committee, please contact publicart@lethbridge.ca.

The City of Lethbridge enables small public art projects designed to provide Lethbridge and area artists and local organizations with opportunities to engage, enhance, and inform the community. 

The City is bound by certain public sector trade agreements for high-budget Public Art projects. In accordance with these trade agreements, the City cannot limit a request for proposals for a piece of Public Art to only local artists. While these trade agreements mean that Lethbridge cannot directly award to local artists all of our contracts for high-budget Public Art projects, it also ensures that other municipalities (who adhere to the same trade agreements) must make their opportunities open and available to all artists. This means that our local artists, while not receiving preferential treatment for Lethbridge projects, benefit from being able to compete for projects in Lethbridge and across the country.

One other important thing to consider is that Public Art projects are highly specialized. For example, the piece being installed in ATB Centre's Aquatics Centre requires the use of industrial-grade materials that can withstand the humidity/chlorine present in a pool environment. There are very few local artists who have the experience necessary to successfully execute highly specialized Public Art projects. We are working to help our local artists become more experienced. Our Public Art Small Projects program is designed to give local artists opportunities to gain experience with Public Art so that they can compete for larger opportunities, should they so desire. We currently have several local artists working to install small Public Art projects in our community.

Most high-budget Public Art projects are large-scale pieces of art. The budget for a Public Art project may seem high if you are thinking that the piece is a small painting to be hung on a wall, similar to what you might see in a gallery or museum.  For example, the piece being installed in ATB Centre's Galleria and Gymnasium involves ten distinctive painted panels. The five panels facing into the Galleria are approximately 8 metres high by 5 metres wide. The five panels facing into the Gymnaisum are approximately 3.5 metres high by 5 metres wide.

Another thing to note is that Public Art projects are small construction projects – they involve design, fabrication, and installation. Large public art projects often take 12 to 16 months to complete – they are major projects! And the majority of the budget for each project goes to materials and labour, with the artist only receiving a small fee for creative time and effort

​Small Public Art Projects are selected through an Expression of Interest and Committee review.

Large Public Art Projects are selected by an ad hoc commissioning committee assembled by the City's Art Committee. Each selection committee is unique. A selection committee includes a member of the Art Committee, a local artist, a technical advisor, an individual connected to the project/site, and a member of the general public. A selection committee reviews and evaluates all submissions, selects an artist for a project, and then puts forward a recommendation to City Council to commission the selected artist.

The City of Lethbridge Art Committee establishes project-specific commissioning committees for public art projects on an ad hoc basis. Commissioning committees are tasked with reviewing and selecting projects. The City of Lethbridge Public Art Committee maintains a roster of artist representatives and community representatives available to serve on project commissioning committees. The City of Lethbridge Public Art Committee strives to engage a wide spectrum of artists and community members in art selection processes.

View the Public Art committee commission roster or contact publicart@lethbridge.ca.