Project Brief
The City of Pickering’s Cultural Strategic Plan (2026) outlines the City’s commitment to fostering placemaking and a distinct community identity, celebrating interculturalism through the arts, sustaining and maintaining a creative economy, being future ready and prioritizing youth and young families. For this project, the City is seeking artists or artist teams interested in creating an integrated functional public art experience in the area adjacent to the fieldhouse building. The Art in Public Spaces Plan recommends integrated functional public artwork that combines artistic expression with a practical purpose, such as seating, lighting, wayfinding elements, gathering spaces, or landscape features, and reflects the themes of community building, expansion, and growth in our City.
The concrete area that the artwork could be placed in is approximately 8m x 9m in area. 2m of space is required around the piece as a walkway, which would leave a maximum of 4m x 5m space available.
The top three (3) artists/teams will be required to present their concept to the jury at the March 31,2027 Public Art Jury Meeting.
The City will facilitate consultation between the artists/teams and the community as well as other project stakeholders.
Detailed Terms of Reference will be provided to the shortlisted artist/artists teams to help them prepare their concept.
Site Background
The City of Pickering resides on the land within the Treaty and traditional territory of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation and William Treaties signatories of the Mississauga and Chippewa Nations.
The future Dave Ryan Community Park will be located at the southeast corner of Mulberry Lane and Alexander Knox Road. The community park will include a full-size lit soccer pitch, lit ball diamond, tennis/pickleball courts, half-court basketball, large junior and senior playground, water play area, on-site parking lot, and a washroom/fieldhouse.
The park is being developed to serve a growing residential neighbourhood and will provide a range of recreation, social, and ecological amenities.
The design includes opportunities for social connection, formal and informal recreation, and gathering that support children, teens, caregivers, and families of all backgrounds.
Dave Ryan (born 1946) dedicated 28 years of service to our community, including nearly two decades as Mayor of Pickering – becoming the longest serving Mayor in Pickering’s history.
For nearly three decades, Dave Ryan provided strong, steady, progressive, and visionary leadership, helping Pickering evolve from a little bedroom community into a dynamic, diverse, thriving, and sustainable city.
Under his position as Mayor, the City has seen many key and transformational projects come to fruition including the Frenchman’s Bay Harbour Entrance reconstruction; new Fire Headquarters; Guinness World Records’ longest enclosed pedestrian bridge; Durham Live; Pickering Casino Resort; the development of Pickering’s Innovation Corridor; and the Jerry Coughlan Health & Wellness Centre.
Mayor Dave Ryan played a defining role in shaping and strengthening our community, and this park will honour his legacy by creating a welcoming, thoughtfully designed place for families to gather and enjoy for generations to come.
This project is guided by the City’s Cultural Strategic Plan which sets a vision for the place of arts, culture and heritage in the City and identifies strategic directions for policy, investment, partnerships and programs.