07/21/2026
🎨✨ I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the role public art plays in our communities.
As an established, nationally recognized public artist working across Canada, I often hear people ask:
“Who pays for murals?”�“Why does the government fund public art?”�“Why are tax dollars used to support artists?”
These are important questions, and I think they deserve honest answers. 🏛️
Public art is not simply about decorating a wall.
It is about shaping the places where we live. It is about telling the stories of the people who have been here for generations, welcoming those who are newly arriving, preserving culture, creating beauty, and reminding communities that they matter. ❤️
Public art can transform a space that has been neglected, vandalized, forgotten, or disconnected from the people who live there.
It can create a sense of identity, safety, pride, visibility, and belonging. 🌿🏘️✨
Across Canada, federal, provincial, and municipal governments invest in public art because art is an important part of healthy and vibrant communities.
Just like libraries, parks, recreation centres, museums, roads, and other public infrastructure, art contributes to the quality of life within a community. 📚🌳🏫🎨
Many cities across Canada also have public art or “Percent for Art” policies. This means that a small percentage of the budget for certain public infrastructure and development projects may be set aside for public artwork.
That artwork belongs to everyone.
You do not need to purchase a ticket, enter a gallery, or have money to experience it. Public art is accessible within the spaces where people already live, work, gather, learn, and grow. 🫶🏽
These projects are funded through public dollars because the benefits belong to the public.
Public art creates jobs. 💼
It supports artists, assistants, fabricators, photographers, filmmakers, designers, sign companies, printers, engineers, lift operators, youth mentors, educators, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and local businesses.
When an artist receives a grant, that funding does not simply go into their pocket.
Grant funding may help pay for:
🎨 Artist and design fees�🖌️ Paint and professional art materials�🏗️ Lifts, scaffolding, and safety equipment�🚗 Travel and transportation�🏨 Accommodations�📋 Insurance, permits, and administration�👥 Assistants and youth mentorship�🌿 Elders and Knowledge Keepers�📸 Photography and documentation�🍎 Community workshops, meals, and supplies�🧱 Wall preparation and long-term maintenance
That money moves back into the local economy while creating something meaningful that can remain within the community for years, and sometimes decades.
Something else people do not always understand is that artists do not simply decide what they should be paid.
Across Canada, organizations such as CARFAC have spent decades advocating for the fair and professional payment of artists. CARFAC provides recommended fee schedules that recognize an artist’s labour, experience, intellectual property, exhibition rights, and professional contributions. ⚖️🎨
Artists deserve to be compensated fairly, just like architects, engineers, electricians, educators, tradespeople, and other skilled professionals.
Fair pay allows artists to continue creating, mentoring, researching, travelling, purchasing materials, maintaining insurance, paying taxes, and contributing to the communities they serve.
For me, some of the most meaningful public art projects happen in places that have historically had the least access to professional art and cultural investment.
🌾 Rural communities�🧭 Northern and remote communities�🪶 First Nations and Indigenous communities�🏘️ Underserved neighbourhoods�🌎 Newcomer and culturally diverse communities�🤎 Communities that have experienced systemic barriers and exclusion
When communities do not have access to galleries, museums, professional arts programming, or public art, people can grow up without seeing themselves reflected in the spaces around them.
Representation matters.
I have watched young people stand in front of a mural and say:
“That looks like me.”
I have watched Elders share teachings and stories that become part of a design.
I have watched neighbours who had never spoken to one another paint beside each other.
I have watched youth develop confidence because they were trusted to contribute to something permanent and meaningful. 🥹❤️
That is the power of public art.
Public art is not just decoration.
It is relationship. 🤝🏽�It is education. 📚�It is cultural preservation. 🪶�It is economic development. 💼�It is mentorship. 🌱�It is visibility. 👁️�It is healing. ❤️🩹�It is pride. ✨�It is belonging. 🏡
As public artists, we carry a responsibility to create work that serves the people who will live with it long after we are gone.
We also have a responsibility to listen, research, engage, collaborate, and make sure communities are not simply being represented, but are actively involved in shaping how their stories are told.
As Canadians, we should understand and value the role public funding plays in supporting artists and creating cultural spaces that are accessible to everyone. 🇨🇦🎨
Art is not a luxury.
Art is how we document history.
Art is how we protect culture.
Art is how we reclaim space.
Art is how we remember who we are. ✨
