Winnipeg budget: No funding for public art

The Winnipeg Arts Council said the City of Winnipeg's new budget could mean the end of its public art program.

According to the council, the line in the budget of the capital, which provides funds for a large installation for public art, has been reduced to zero.

Instead, $500,000 was allocated to major downtown arts institutions. Carol Phillips, executive director of the Winnipeg Arts Council, said it was a “mystery.”

“At least the undergraduates, as far as we understand, have not asked the city about it and they haven't been contacted about the need for capital,” he said in an interview Monday.

The council is now looking to the city for answers and plans to respond through the budget process.

“We're trying to understand what that means, and because so many people are contacting us, we've reached out to the city and asked for that basic information,” Phillips said.

Phillips acknowledged the city faces financial challenges, but said funding for the arts is less than 0.5 percent of the city's total budget.

“It's a relatively small amount,” he said. “What this means for others is that it means cuts because there is a need to recover after COVID. Art is still trying to bring things together, still trying to bring viewers back to places and galleries.”

In a statement, the City of Winnipeg said the proposed budget does not include capital expenditures for individual public art projects. However, he added that the city will retain a portion of its major capital project budgets to fund public art related to the project.