Applications continue to be accepted from artists for 2026 public art grant funding.
The Williams Lake Public Art Committee will be doing this until April 15th.
Sherry Yonkman, Executive Director of Downtown Williams Lake said every year the City of Williams Lake and Downtown Williams Lake partner to sponsor a $10,000 public art grant, $5,000 of it from each organization.
“It can be awarded to one art project as a whole or it can be divided between two. The Downtown BIA one, whatever the project is, it has to be inside BIA boundaries. The City of Williams Lake one, their half can be anywhere within City limits. And we want to sponsor something that’s going to last a long time. It’s got to be guaranteed that it will be available to the public for ten years and in a publicly accessible space.”
Yonkman noted that they are open to a variety of types of art, it doesn’t have to be a mural anymore.
“We’re lucky, we have amazing talent in this area. People applying need to come in with a fully fleshed out drawing or sketch or something of what their project is going to look like. They have to arrange the location of it, not where people have to pay to get into it, it has to be some place that the public can enjoy.”
Yonkman said they usually get two or three applications every year and she’s had three people come in and show interest so far this year.
“We have a committee that’s represented by someone from Downtown Williams Lake, the City of Williams Lake, the Arts Society, and we try to have someone from Williams Lake First Nation. We try and have a committee that sort of represents the different areas to make the decision, to choose which one we think is the right one for this year.”
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