Please join us on Tuesday, October 27, from 1:30 PM - 3 PM EDT for A Civic Role for Artists, the third session of Becoming Public Art, a nine-week virtual summit presented by Markham Public Art in partnership with ART+PUBLIC UnLtd. Through two case studies, the Watershed+ program hosted by the City of Calgary, and the Public Artists in Residence (PAIR) program, run by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the session will explore: How to integrate the artist into city infrastructure? Can the artist act as an urban problem solver? What is the civic role of the artist?

Featuring: Carolyn Bowen, Manager, Watershed Planning, City of Calgary; Shirley Levy, Chief of Staff, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs

Moderator: Michèle Pearson Clarke, visual artist and Photo Laureate, City of Toronto

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Watershed+ is an innovative program, with a new model of working within a municipality and a goal of building a lasting and meaningful relationship between citizens and their watershed. By embedding artists within the organization, valuing their processes, and integrating it from the beginning of a project, it allows for the possibility of citizens to connect with nature in a way they haven't before. This collaborative and multidisciplinary approach is not just about creating practical solutions. Rather, it strives to provoke, create intrigue, and reveal the complex systems that integrate a city and its watershed.

Carolyn Bowen has been with The City of Calgary for twenty years and is passionate about public service, public art and the environment. As Manager of Watershed Planning in the Water Utility, Bowen and her team ensure Calgary’s watershed is healthy today into the future, and resilient to floods and drought. Through education and outreach programs they connect citizens to our rivers. Bowen works with the Watershed Plus art program and has a MSc. and a Masters Certificate in Municipal Leadership.

Public Artists in Residence (PAIR) is a municipal residency program that embeds artists in city government to propose and implement creative solutions to pressing civic challenges. Launched in the fall of 2015, PAIR takes its inspiration and its name from the pioneering work of artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles, the first official (unsalaried) artist-in-residence with the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY), 1977 – present. PAIR is based on the premise that artists are creative problem-solvers. They are able to create long-term and lasting impact by working collaboratively and in open-ended processes to build community bonds, open channels for two-way dialogue, and reimagine realities to create new possibilities for those who experience and participate in the work.

As Chief of Staff for the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), Shirley Levy is part of the executive team managing the largest municipal funder for arts and culture in the U.S. Since 2012, Shirley has co-created and directs the NYC Public Artists-in-Residence (PAIR) program (2015); leads AREA, the Affordable Real Estate for Artists initiative (2016); created the Mayor’s Grant for Cultural Impact (2017); and launched City Canvas, (2019). Recently, she is focusing on the agency’s response to COVID-19.

Michèle Pearson Clarke is a Trinidad-born artist, writer and educator who works in photography, film, video and installation. She is currently the inaugural 2020-2021 artist-in-residence at the University of Toronto’s Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, and the Photo Laureate for the City of Toronto (2019-2022). As part of that role, she sits on the Mayor’s External Advisory Committee for ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art 2021, which will kick-off the City’s new 10-Year Public Art Strategy.

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Becoming Public Art: Working Models and Case Studies for Art in Public is a nine-week virtual summit co-curated by Rebecca Carbin, Principal, ART+PUBLIC UnLtd, and Yan Wu, Public Art Curator, City of Markham. In a series of virtual sessions, professionals in the field will present the broad range of perspectives that shape public art making today.

For summit details and to subscribe for updates, please visit the summit website.