Vernon city council’s decision to pull its support and $33,000 in funding previously slated for the controversial Behind the Mask public art project and exhibition has “stunned” those closest to the work.
“There needs to be a better system for decision-making on public art,” Dauna Kennedy, executive director of the Vernon Public Art Gallery, said in a press release, in the aftermath of the change in tack.
“Few cities consult the public in the manner proposed by members of council because art is emotive and subjective. Public art is an important means of providing not only beautification to a community but also provoking thought and dialogue through critical works designed to challenge the viewer.”
The project sparked intense public debate and petitions both for and against installation. More than 4,000 signatures appeared for an online petition against the art titled “Say ‘no’ to Vernon’s scary new murals.”
2:39 Consultation results for controversial Vernon mural project presented to council
Consultation results for controversial Vernon mural project presented to council – Jul 18, 2022
As attention on the project continued to build in June, it was put on hold by council, pending public consultation. The process was one in which the gallery was an active participant.
“The gallery consultation was designed to ensure that whoever participated in the survey had the opportunity to see all the pieces, to read each artist statement and understand the entire process,” Sarah Kennedy, board member, said.
“This resulted in a much smaller sampling but still sufficient to be representative of the Vernon public. And every type of media was used to invite the public to come to the gallery to participate.”
1:42 Public consultation now underway for Vernon, B.C. mural project
Public consultation now underway for Vernon, B.C. mural project – Jun 20, 2022
Gallery staff said 65 per cent of the 353 viewers were in favour of the mural project moving ahead.
Vernon city councillor Kari Gares says the input from the consultation and other messages council received from the public was a major factor in the decision.
“The rationale for council right now is just based on the vocal majority of those who are in opposition of the project. It was an outstanding amount of residents in our community,” said Gares.
The project, Kennedy said, would have offered many benefits to the economy, community and culture. Particularly, in the area of creating a dialogue around mental health.
Prior to the city reversing its decision, the project had reached its funding goals with $55,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, $33,000 from the City of Vernon, $10,000 from the Regional District of North Okanagan and $7,500 from Vernon Tourism. The supplies and artist’s fee have already been paid for.
Gallery representatives said they may now have to return grant funds to the Canada Council and compromise its ability to secure future grants.
2:41 Controversial Vernon mural project sent back for consultation
Controversial Vernon mural project sent back for consultation – Jun 14, 2022
“Canada Council grants don’t come through every day,” Andrew Powell, gallery president, said.
“This project would have given us the opportunity to apply for operational funding, which would have effectively subsidized the Gallery and saved the city money in the long run, especially as we look toward the promise of a new facility. We are unhappy with this decision, to say the least.”
After being advised that there was a potential for the city to reverse its position and pull its support, the gallery went back to the City of Vernon with a recommendation for a scaled-back exhibit that would see only eight murals in locations that fit with the theme and a shortened shelf life of three years instead of five.
This option was also turned down.
City council is encouraging the art gallery to come back once changes are made.
“They are able to bring it back should they make some adjustments along the way,” said Gares. “Those adjustments could be, the sheer scope of the project, the size of the murals, where those murals are going, all of that may be reconsidered.”
1:47 Organizer of proposed Black Lives Matter mural ‘devastated’ after project postponed
Organizer of proposed Black Lives Matter mural ‘devastated’ after project postponed – Aug 12, 2020
The gallery has also been approached by another community willing to provide space for the mural installations.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
