City gives SculptureWalk $10,000 more; People's Choice voting to close Sept. 24
By Castlegar Source
Castlegar SculptureWalk is enjoying increased public support, as city council agreed to an extra $10,000/per year in funding for the program for the next three years.
At its regular meeting Tuesday night, council gave the green light to $25,000 per year for SculptureWalk, largely due to the project’s phenomenal success in this, its first year.
“We want to give the People’s Choice sculpture $15,000 instead of $10,000 to keep it more in line with the US programs – that way, we have access to that same high-calibre pool of artists,” said organizer Pat Field. “As part of our five-year plan, we wanted to grow this into a $75,000 (per year) project, with $25,000 coming from the city, $25,000 from grants and the last $25,000 from corporate sponsorship.
“We’re realizing that (goal) more quickly than anticipated because it has been so successful this year. We’ve had overwhelming support from everyone.”
For example, he said, they expected maybe 1,000 to vote for the People’s Choice winner – but after using up the original 2,500 ballots printed, they’re having to print 500 more as the competition draws to a close.
“Voting ends at the end of September – ballots will be counted by independent judges and the winner will be announced then,” he said, adding judges are coming in from out of town to determine the Artistic Merit award winners.
He said that’ll be the last we’ll hear from SculptureWalk until spring, but work has already begun behind the scenes to ensure next year is bigger and better.
He said he’s partnering with three US cities with the same program, sharing best practices, eliminating duplicate work and creating broader audiences for participating artists.
“It’s been a great year – we’ve had no vandalism and unbelieveably great feedback,” he said. “I’ve given lots of tours – for seniors groups from Nelson, family reunions, that kind of thing – and I’ve met more people with this than I have in the 19 years I’ve lived in Castlegar.”
Finally, he said all the positions within SculptureWalk are volunteer – and because no one gets paid, every penny goes into the project.
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