Street art — in particular murals — are prominent in Montréal. As this murals 101 will tell you, in addition to an annual mural festival, there are mural projects and walking tours, street art galleries and graffiti bloggers. Less known, I suspect, is that a policy in place since 1961 has contributed to the art on the streets of Montréal.
Any construction, expansion or redevelopment project in Montréal that costs $150,000 or more and benefits from a government subsidy — according to the “Politique d’intégration des arts à l’architecture et à l’environnement des bâtiments et des sites gouvernementaux et publics” — must set aside approximately 1% of the total project costs for the integration of a work of art. This approach to public policy for public art has been adopted by cities and provinces across Canada since the Federal Department of Public Works discontinued its program of commissioning public art in 1978.
I learned this only very recently, when I was trying to find the name of a mural artist whose work I had seen in the Villeray neighbourhood, and my search led me to the Art Public Montréal website. It is a handy resource that allows you to search by category of art, neighbourhood and artist. It also provides directions for self-guided tours.
An online search for “public art” in your city may well bring you to a similar catalogue, or to other resources that invite you to consider what the public art around you has to give.
a few words ... from Montréal 