‘They don’t care:’ Artists dismayed about City of Regina’s budget for stadium art project

REGINA – The city is looking to pay tribute the historic Taylor Field Stadium with a special art project at the new Mosaic Stadium.

“We have $70,000 set aside to say farewell to the old Mosaic on behalf of the city and the community,” City of Regina Director of Major Projects Kelly Scheer said.

That included putting out a call to artists to put forth a proposal to create something interesting.

However, the city has only allocated $10,000 from the budget for the art project. It’s an amount that caught artists off guard.

“I saw that notice. I just threw it away because it’s a joke,” nationally renowned artist Joe Fafard said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I saw that notice. I just threw it away because it's a joke," nationally renowned artist Joe Fafard said.

Known for iconic staples in Regina, including the art installment inside Hill Tower One, Fafard says budget doesn’t justify the costs of creating anything worthy of the project’s importance.

“If they don’t care then that’s the kind of gesture you do is throw $10,000 on a project that cost how many millions?”

“This probably doesn’t work for everybody who may be interested in having art in the new stadium. But it may work for some,” Scheer added.

However, Fafard believes the city completely missed the mark.

“It seems what they have in mind was a couple of photographs of the old stadium that they’re going to hang in the hallway.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It seems what they have in mind was a couple of photographs of the old stadium that they're going to hang in the hallway."