> Invasion of the cows
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1000000/1000004.stm
Sigh ...
Just another example of how real "world-class" cities understand how
to do things, and how completely bungled the entire Moose in the City
here in Toronto is.
(Warning: semi-rant begins here.)
For those who are interested: these art displays are meant to promote
tourism, showcase local art and raise money. In Toronto, the powers
that be decided to do things differently.
Not enough businesses were willing to donate $1000 per moose for the
project. So instead of all the moose being given to local artists to
design, about 1/3 of them were sold to corporations for *them* to design.
Then, instead of asking well-known local artists to design them,
they had an application process. In itself, this isn't bad (after all,
there are plenty of great, unknown artists). However, the decision
as to which artists would get a moose was up to a committee ... and
the committee had (AFAIK) no representation of the arts community.
So we ended up with a few beautifully designed moose, but mostly a bunch
of middle-of-the-road designs that the committee thought would be "cute"
or at least "safe", community-standards-wise: mostly moose dressed up
as <insert occupation here>.
Not to mention the 1/3 of the moose which are basically pure advertising
for the companies that bought them. So you end up with the TD Bank moose,
the Pizza-Pizza moose or the President's Choice Decadent Chocolate Chip
Cookie moose.
*Then* ... there is the moose just down the street from my apartment,
which was designed by an artist. However, the corporate sponsor (Atto) has
been trying to get more recognition out of it than the small plaque placed
at it's feet. First, it tried a sticker on the side of the moose ... which
was twice torn off. Then, a cardboard sign, zip-tied to it's leg ... which
disappeared. Finally, there is now an otherwise nice-looking moose with
the word "ATTO" painted down it's side. (Of course, this is all against
the "rules").
Am I ranting yet? :) Two more things:
First, the moose are *all* over Toronto. This was done, I assume, to
placate
all the municipalities around town. But if the idea is to help promote
Toronto's tourism, then why is there a moose on the top of a factory out in
Port Hope (this is about 1 hour drive east of downtown)?
Second (and finally), the moose are all to be given back to the city to
be raffled off to raise money for the city's 2008 Olympic bid (in itself,
something that is a contentious issue here in Toronto), and charity.
The mayor seems to think that this will raise 3 or 4 million dollars.
There are 326 moose. Do the math: that's an expected average of $10,000
per moose. Keep in mind, 1/3 of these are pure advertising, so the only
people I would expect to buy them are the companies themselves ... who
didn't want to spend $1,000 in the first place. And the rest ... well,
I've already said who designed them and the overall quality of the
designs -- subjective, of course, but I do have experience in the arts and
like
to think I know what is good :).
My prediction? The event will raise *maybe* $250,000, and will be such
a failure in the eyes of the politicians that it will never be repeated.
Which is too bad ... because other "world-class" cities seem to know how
to do it right.
- Colin
