Postponed: experience Winnipeg's impressive arts culture at libraries

Winnipeg Arts Council is postponing the bike tour to August 25, next week Thursday due to the extreme downpour in the city.

Updated at 9:43 a.m.

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The Winnipeg Art Council is preparing for an art and architecture bike tour that will lead participants all around the city to see the beauty of local libraries.

"Winnipeg Public Art Program is partnering with Storefront Manitoba to take anybody who wants to join us on a bike tour of the art and architecture that is present in Winnipeg's Library system," says Tamara Rae Biebrich, Public Art Manager of Winnipeg Arts Council and Winnipeg Public Art Program. "It's a three-hour bike tour visiting some of Winnipeg's newest libraries to see the art and architecture that is integral to these public spaces."

The Public Arts Program has done previous tours around Winnipeg in the summer, visiting various public artworks across the city. However, they have never done a tour of libraries before.

"This is our first time visiting a bunch of libraries, and it's great you can do that on a bike in about three hours. Storefront Manitoba celebrates and promotes design and architecture in the city, and so this is the first time looking at art and architecture."

Biebrich shares that libraries are valuable to the community. They serve as meeting places, to learn, and to share space with other community members.

"We're really proud of the artworks we've integrated into public libraries where they really speak to not only the experience in a library but also the neighbourhood that it's in and are interactive in kind of subtle ways. We have a mosaic, that's an actual maze that can be solved by local artist Simon Hughs in the Windsor Park Library. It allows you to kind of think, create and reflect on why you're in the library."

The Bike Tour is happening tomorrow, August 18 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., participants will meet in the Millennium Library Park. For those wishing to join, please bring your own bicycle, helmet and water bottle. If it is raining, the tour will be postponed to August 25. Follow Winnipeg Arts Council's Facebook page for updates on the event.