A smart, reasonable, effective way to fund art
Beautifulcity.ca‘s tax on billboards to fund art is finally coming to a vote at City Council. This proposed new sign by-law may offer the single greatest opportunity to increase municipal arts funding in the next decade.
The premise of the campaign is that billboard advertising, unlike all other forms of advertising, provides no content to the public in exchange for taking up public space (editorial to advertising ratios for TV is 75/25, for print is usually 50/50 but for billboards is 0 to 100).
The sign by-law going before city council on November 30/December 1 recommends regulating billboards in Toronto, removing illegal billboards as well as taxing and properly regulating the remainder.
The tax will help to create ‘editorial’ by increasing the city’s arts funding and ensuring greater public access to art in exchange for use of public space.
“Advertising is increasingly infringing on our public spaces, and the privilege of leveraging public space for commercial ends should come with a responsibility to keep them healthy. The billboard tax is a fair and just means for private advertisers to take responsibility for their impact on the city.”
- Sign the petition: Click here.
- Call and write your councillor: Click here for info and key asks.
- Show your support at City Hall on Nov 30th/Dec 1st: RSVP here.
- Spread the word: Join the facebook group here.
Watch below: Beautifulcity.ca takes over Toronto City Hall!
Beautifulcity.ca Town Hall – 1st Cut from BeautifulCity.ca on Vimeo.
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