The City of Maple Ridge through the Public Art Steering Committee is providing seed grant funding for community organizations and service groups to support projects that engage artists with residents in a creative collaboration that is publicly accessible and leaves a lasting experience or legacy for the general public. Partnerships are also encouraged and welcomed with business, individual artists etc. A group may apply for a maximum of $1,500 per project. The Steering Committee has set aside a maximum of $5,000 annually as seed funding to encourage this type of community engagement. The funding is subject to the Council budget approval process.
Deadline for 2019 was March 29, 2019 and for 2020 the focus will be the BC Summer Games through the artists in residence. Note that remaining funds after the deadline will be allocated on a case by case basis by the Committee.
The objectives of the Community Public Art Program are:
- To nurture a collaborative process between practicing artists and the community;
- To encourage the creation of publicly accessible artwork, permanent or temporary that has artistic merit and community benefit;
- To foster community pride, identity and cohesion through a collaborative artistic endeavor;
- To provide small scale opportunities for artists to gain experience in the field of public art;
- To increase the community's understanding of public art through small scale locally based projects;
- To reflect the diversity, needs and ambitions of the larger community.
Community public art projects can be interior or exterior works, temporary, semi permanent or permanent. Interior works must be in public buildings and sited in an area open to the public on a regular basis. The works can include, but are not limited to murals; mosaics, community garden and festivals enhancements; temporary interventions, digital projections, functional art such as benches or bike racks; streetscape improvements such as sidewalks or plazas; and place markers. A wide variety of mediums and artistic disciplines will be considered, including mixed media, performance art, digital media etc. The applicant is responsible for getting approvals and permits for the work's location and/or presentation.
Please email the Grant Program completed applications at submissions@mapleridge.ca.