Art brings people together and enriches neighbourhoods, residents and visitors. Helping community artists show off their unravelled talents elevates Mississauga’s profile as a world-class city.
Mississauga is also promoting creative industries, and the artists and entrepreneurs driving these businesses, which is a tremendous opportunity for us to diversify and strengthen our economy. I encourage you to read our Culture Divisions Creative Industries Strategy to learn more about how Mississauga is fostering a creative industries sector.
Art embodies inspiration, creativity and originality. It’s one of the many ways we can express our pride in being Canadian. As part of the Canada 150th Anniversary program, last October, the City of Mississauga was awarded $199,000 for a national call to artists to commission a permanent public piece of artwork at Mississauga Celebration Square. The announcement was made by Mississauga-Malton MP Minister Navdeep Bains, who continues to be a strong voice for our community in Ottawa. The piece will focus on the themes of diversity, inclusion and Reconciliation with Indigenous communities.
This new funding will go toward commissioning artwork that will have a permanent home at Celebration Square – a popular gathering place where residents come together to share and celebrate their culture for everyone to experience, appreciate and enjoy.
The public art project will be unveiled in the fall of 2017 as part of the City’s year-long celebration to engage Canadians and newcomers on issues of identity, culture and the place of Indigenous peoples in contemporary society.
Our new Canada 150 public art piece will be situated along other popular pieces included Ilan Sandler’s The Book – a painted steel sculpture that was donated to the City of Mississauga by Toronto Pearson in May of last year.
Once unveiled, this new piece of public art will stand as a testament to the tremendous pride our residents take in calling Mississauga and Canada home.