This summer Chamberfest once again highlighted churches as fantastic downtown arts venues. Re-imagining or re-purposing “the church” is happening a lot more these days. The Sunday Event With fewer parishioners spending Sundays at churches, especially in downtown areas, beautiful old church buildings are being forced to diversify or dissolve. There is a migration of well-established congregations purchasing cheaper property in the suburbs and following families out of the city, such as the Metropolitan Bible Church formerly on Bank and Gladstone Street (shortly to be a new condo block). Churches are expensive. They rely on funds from Sunday collections and fundraisers to support their operations. Downtown property taxes and older buildings are a strain and increasingly challenging to maintain. While some are selling off their parking lots to make ends meet, other parishes are finding new uses for their spaces and attracting new audiences, beyond Sunday’s main event.

In the dense forest of corporate buildings in downtown Ottawa, wouldn’t it be nice to distinguish one corner from another? Too many offer only the pre-requisite coffee shop or dry cleaner tucked inside a big glass wall. One solution that enlivens urban centres is investment in corporate sculpture. When I was young, I had the chance to go to Chicago on a school field trip. To an art student, downtown Chicago is the epitome of cool. It’s a city that appreciates art and urbanism. We took architecture walks down streets lined with architecture by the likes of Louis Sullivan and Mies van der Rohe and you couldn’t help but notice the large commissioned sculptures that proudly sit in front of many of the city’s big buildings. It’s commonplace to give directions by saying: “Turn left at the big bat.” The “bat” being Batcolumn, a monumental grey skeleton of a baseball bat by pop artist Claes Oldenburg. Not only that, but people love the bat, gather and eat lunch in its shadow.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Even spectres congregate at World Exchange ampitheatre "][/caption] It’s the time of year for renovations and construction projects, getting ready for the onset of the busy Ottawa tourism and “good weather” season. One of the renovation projects I have been keeping an eye on is the World Exchange Plaza Ampitheatre. In downtown Ottawa, the World Exchange is a well-utilized mixed-use facility. The property is managed by Bentall LP, known for their “responsible property management,” comprehensive green programs, and integrated approach to real estate. Office towers above, a mall on the main floor and free public parking below, the Exchange is perhaps best known for the Empire Cinema at its heart. The cinema is busy throughout the year, drawing people from Centretown, Lowertown, the Glebe, Sandy Hill and users of the transitway. Finding such “draws” is something that Spacing Ottawa has been actively talking about lately, especially on the issue of how to create that energy on nearby Sparks Street, where tumbleweeds have been seen rolling through the silent corridor at night. World Exchange has been sprucing up its outdoor pedestrian garden and popular lunchtime seating area (bordering busy Metcalfe, Albert and Queen), and enhancing its outdoor performance space.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Can "one percent" bring art to streets beyond the national gallery? "][/caption] When you see public art projects on Ottawa streets, do you wonder how they get there? Who pays for it? Many Ottawans don’t realize that every new Ottawa street re-vitalization project is subject to the City’s “1% for public art” policy. The idea of “percent-for-art” programs has been around for a while and is contingent on a mandated allocation from government (or corporate) initiatives. As it says on the City of Ottawa’s website: “One percent of funds for new municipal spaces is put aside for public art in order to beautify the space and make art accessible to everyone.” For example, the Community Design Plan for the Wellington West road reconstruction has a $25+ million price tag for capital improvement. 1% of that budget, approx. $250,000, is intended for commissioned public art. Other such projects include Bank Street, Preston Street and in the future, streets like Sussex Drive. Does the 1% always get directed to public art? No, but 1% initiatives are becoming more visible due to the strength and persistence of Ottawa’s vocal community groups who are starting to hold the City to its funding policy.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1024" caption="Former site of Goldstein's Supermarket on Elgin; still vacant"][/caption]

I stood near the corner of Bank and Somerset one day, puzzled, as I watched a woman struggle to lock her bike to a fence that protected one of the newly planted ash trees, while a brand new bike rack stood vacant, less than 4 feet away, with no bike to call it’s own. This year I have watched with interest at the discovery and use of the new Bank Street bike racks and wondered how long it will take to for people to really make the connection. Public engagement with new community art is always a slow process. Last year the City of Ottawa put out a call to local artists to submit graphic drawings that would be used as templates for steel bicycle racks. This was part of the long overdue Bank Street North rehabilitation project between Laurier Avenue and the Queensway. It is one of many public art commissions the City currently has underway along central neighbourhood streets, such as Preston and Wellington.