Patricia Bovey at the inaugural Museums at the Senate installation in 2021. (courtesy the Senate of Canada)
The Canadian government has passed Bill S-202. The new act will create Canada’s first parliamentary visual artist laureate.
The bill was sponsored by Patricia Bovey, former senator and former director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, author and Galleries West contributor.
“The objective of Bill S-202 is to create the parliamentary visual artist laureate as an officer of the Library of Parliament,” said Senator Andrew Cardozo this week. “This position would be complementary to the already existing parliamentary poet laureate and would use the same model.”
The visual artist laureate position will be a two-year term, with a mandate to promote, foster, develop and bring awareness to the visual arts in Canada. The visual arts laureate will produce art or “cause to be produced artistic creations at the request of the Speaker, especially for use in Parliament on occasions of state,” as well as sponsor artistic events, including exhibitions, and give advice on the collection and acquisitions for the Library of Parliament.
Details are still being finalized, but the position will be open to all Canadians and the primary official language will alternate.
Applications for the new position will be made to the Library of Parliament. The Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons will select the parliamentary visual artist laureate from three names submitted in confidence by a committee that includes the Parliamentary Librarian of Canada, the director of the National Gallery of Canada, the commissioner of Official Languages for Canada, the chairperson of the Canada Council for the Arts and the president of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts or designates.
Source: Parliament of Canada, theprogressives.ca
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