The City of Lethbridge supports the acquisition of public art which is a vital part of our community’s culture. Public art creates a distinct and vibrant legacy for our residents, and it:
- Builds a visually rich environment
- Encourages the growth of a culturally informed public
- Plays a role in attracting creative businesses and workers to our city
- Provides arts opportunities that are freely accessible to all
Public art collection gallery
Lethbridge is home to an impressive and ever-growing collection of public art. View a gallery of our public art collection online.
Virtual tours and interactive maps
Check out the following interactive maps and virtual tours of the public art located throughout the city.
Current calls for small projects
We enable small public art projects to provide opportunities for local artists and organizations to engage, enhance, and inform the community with their own creative artwork. Past and ongoing projects include utility box wrapping, construction fencing public art and murals.
View our current calls for local artists for these types of public art projects.
The Public Art Committee reviews applications and selects artists for small public art projects.
Large public art projects
View our bid opportunities to find current calls for submission for large public art projects.
In accordance with certain public trade agreements, the City and other municipalities in Canada cannot limit a request for proposals for a large public art project to only local artists. This means that although our local artists don’t receive preferential treatment for Lethbridge projects, they still benefit from being able to compete for projects across the country.
Large public art projects are also highly specialized which means that there may not be many local artists with the necessary skills and experience to execute a project. Our Public Art Small Projects program is designed to give local artists opportunities to gain experience with public art so that they can compete for larger opportunities if they want to.
How we select artists
The Public Art Committee assembles an ad hoc selection committee to select artists for large public art projects. Each selection committee is unique and includes:
- A member of the Public Art Committee
- A local artist
- A technical advisor
- An individual connected to the project/site
- A member of the general public
The selection committee reviews all submissions, selects an artist for a project and then gives their recommendation to Council.
Learn more about how we select the committee roster or contact us at publicart@lethbridge.ca with questions.
Public Art Policy and Master Plan
Our Public Art Policy serves as a framework to direct the acquisition of public art, the public art governance structure and the management of public art collections. The policy is funded by 1% of community services capital projects (Section D) from each Capital Improvement Program (CIP). It also establishes the Public Art Committee as an advisory body to guide further development of policies and guidelines.
The policy works alongside the Public Art Master Plan to develop public art and offer a vision statement and values.
Public art budgets
Most high-budget Public Art projects are large-scale pieces of art that can require a large budget. These projects are essentially small construction projects that involve design, fabrication, and installation and often take 12 to 16 months to complete. The majority of the budget for each project goes to materials and labour with the artist only receiving a small fee for creative time and effort.
Public Art Work Plan
To increase transparency, Council approves public art projects before they are initiated. Our 2022-2025 Public Art Work Plan includes information on in-progress public art projects and outlines project to be started in 2022 to 2025.
Public Art Committee
Learn how Lethbridge’s Public Art Committee helps ensure that the goals of the Public Art Policy and vision of the Public Art Master Plan are accomplished.
