SOLUTIONS: DEVON OSTROM
ON THE BEAUTIFUL CITY BILLBOARD FEE
Beauty and the Billboard? With all the talk recently
of Mayor David Miller’s plan for a City Beautiful,
it’s great to see that someone is already deeply engaged
with an artistic way of making life in Toronto more visually
pleasing.
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Devon Ostrom, the curator of t.h.e.m., is promoting
the Beautiful City Billboard Fee (BCBF), which he
believes will, aside from improving Toronto’s
city aesthetic, result in more jobs for artists. Additionally,
the plan helps to promote community ownership and
adds diversity to communication in public space. Ostrom
took some time out from his work with the Beautiful
City Roundtable and the Mayors Office to explain his
concept:
“The Beautiful City Billboard Fee proposes
that the companies investing in billboard advertising
be held fully accountable to the public for their
access to, and impact on, public space. This initiative
requires that an annual permit fee be paid by the
operators of third party outdoor advertising that
is over one hundred square feet. Proceeds are to be
used for commissioning public art to benefit and beautify
local communities.
“Existing public collection and disbursement
institutions could be used to facilitate this process,
which would help provide the means to renew and celebrate
urban communities through independent creative expression.”
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Ostrom outlines the five interrelated objectives: the beautification
of Toronto; the creation of employment for systemically
underemployed artists; diversifying access to visual communication
in public spaces; legitimizing billboards; and enhancing
public ownership and, thus, community efficacy in common
spaces. And of the five, the second should hold the greatest
interest for local artists.
Ostrom says that “while the creative process itself
can be enjoyable to artists, it is also hard work. However,
artists, as cultural innovators, are often among the most
well-educated yet least remunerated labour force in Canada.
They place in the bottom half of all occupational categories
identified. Hypothetically, at a charge of $6.00 per sq.
foot of billboard space per year, five 15’x25’
billboards could subsidize one small art piece costing $10
000.00 (as well as $1250.00 for administrative and maintenance
expenses.) This means that the 5000 billboards in Toronto
would generate six million dollars for public art per year.”
Ostrom asserts that “public art enriches and contributes
to our communities. It improves our quality of life; it
can tell us of our past, mirror our present and foreshadow
our possible future. Additionally, when produced locally,
public art contributes to ‘place making’ and
provides a venue for intercultural activity. Billboard advertising
is typically the polar opposite, in its motives, medium
and methods. Public art will introduce different ideas made
by those residing in the community, which should help to
promote social awareness. When we speak of diversity here,
we do not refer only to visual minorities, but rather variety
in the type and capacity of people and organizations contributing
to vibrant and democratic public spaces. It is not enough
to have minorities or plus-sized models depicted in the
billboard advertisements – we need a larger variety
of voices creating the messages themselves.”
But how does this work? Ostrom explains that the billboard
fee “should include a small administrative charge
so that the funds can be distributed fairly by existing
government and para-public institutions. These institutions
include the Toronto Arts Council (TAC), the Culture Division,
Parks and Recreation and individual community centres. Ideally,
the partnership created would have both administrative and
artistic expertise, as well as contact with the local areas
in order to distribute the funds effectively. In order to
coincide with the overall objectives of the BCBF, the disbursement
plan should be structured so that the art produced reflects
and engages the communities where the pieces are situated.
Additionally, distribution should take into account financial
need and where the revenue was originally gathered. This
is because richer neighbourhoods often have the capacity
to properly protect and enact stricter rules on aesthetic
design. Poorer neighbourhoods can become a spread of advertisements
for commuters.”
Ostrom concludes: “The 'pure arts' are a well that
many other commercial industries draw from for innovation.
Digging the ‘well’ deeper benefit these industries,
such as design and thus advertising. The structure we are
proposing is very generous towards the billboard advertisers
(in the more immediate sense) as it would allow for billboard
clients and operators to build more genuine, longer-lasting
relationships with local communities.”
Want to find out more? Contact Devon Ostrom at devon@them.ca
or by calling 416-604-7804. Visit the website: http://www.them.ca
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