TAC announces funding opportunities for Toronto’s Year of Public Art
Toronto Arts Council partners with City of Toronto to offer two new granting opportunities to support public art projects
TORONTO, November 18, 2019 – This morning, Mayor John Tory proclaimed 2021 as the Year of Public Art, a year-long celebration of art and community.
Working in partnership with artists, arts organizations and communities during the Year of Public Art, the City will engage residents and visitors in a city-wide recognition of public art and celebrate the incredible body of work built by local and international artists, supported by arts institutions, developers and the City.
"Toronto Arts Council is proud to play a key role in this exciting new initiative that celebrates the vitality the arts bring to the public realm," said Toronto Arts Council Director & CEO Claire Hopkinson. "Through our partnership with the City, we are creating new funding opportunities for Toronto artists to transform our public space through creativity and innovation."
Recognizing that Toronto's important collection of public art reflects the creativity and dynamism of local artists, the Year of Public Art will open up new funding opportunities for artists. Toronto Arts Council is pleased to partner with the City of Toronto on Animating Toronto Streets, a multidisciplinary program that will fund public art projects that take place in Year of Public Art 2021 and during Nuit Blanche.
Projects aligned with the Year of Public Art are also eligible to any of TAC's applicable grant programs, and in particular TAC's Open Door program in the Big Ideas category: ambitious, timely projects with the potential to transform an artistic discipline, inspire a community of artists, or elevate the arts sector as a whole.
Year of Public Art will spotlight artwork in any medium by one or more artists that is created for a publicly-accessible space and free for the public to experience, and is significant in terms of duration, scale and potential for public engagement. Public art may include art in any media that takes place in public space, including contemporary visual and media arts, installation and performance.
Year of Public Art aims to be proactively inclusive of voices and stories that have been absent or under-represented from Toronto's public art landscape to date, including Indigenous voices and stories.
For more information on Toronto Arts Council’s involvement in the Year of Public Art, please visit our website here.
Full details about the City of Toronto’s Year of Public Art program are available on their website here.
About Toronto Arts Council
Toronto Arts Council (TAC) is the City of Toronto’s funding body for artists and arts organizations. Since 1974, TAC has played a major role in the city’s cultural industries by supporting a very broad range of artistic activity. From the emerging artist to the most established, from celebrated institutions to arts that challenge convention, TAC is typically the first funder to offer support. Today, TAC grants lead to exhibitions, performances, readings and workshops seen annually by over 9.5 million people. Through our ongoing funding, TAC cultivates a rich engagement between artists and audiences. It is proud to reflect Toronto’s vibrancy through the diversity of the artists, arts communities and audiences that it serves. For more about Toronto Arts Council, visit www.torontoartscouncil.org.
Contact information:
For information about Toronto Arts Council’s Year of Public Art partnership, please contact Tabassum Siddiqui, Interim Communications Manager, at 416-392-6802 x 217 | tabassum@torontoarts.org.