Texas goes bananas .....

Arts councils give $65,000 to see giant fruit fly
Montreal artist designing huge blimp that will hover over Texas for month

Roger Collier, The Ottawa Citizen

Texas is the home of three of the U.S.'s largest cities, two George Bushes and, come summer 2008, one giant, floating banana.

Cesar Saez, the 38-year-old Montreal artist designing the 300-metre-long, banana-shaped blimp that will sit in the Texas sky, says many people think the project is a hoax. It isn't, he insists. But the skepticism doesn't bother him. "The issue of hoax -- is it true or not? -- I like that the project is playing with that," he said from his Montreal home.

Mr. Saez has at least made believers of the Canada Council for the Arts, which has given him $15,000, and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec, which has given him $50,000.

"He seems to be quite serious about pursuing his project," said Donna Balkan, senior communications manager for the Canada Council for the Arts.

"He's a very experienced artist with a strong track record of doing public art performances, not only in Canada, but all over the world. He also holds a bachelor of fine arts and a masters of fine arts from Concordia University, so he has a very strong arts background."

Beatrice Pepper, director for public relations at the Conseil des arts et lettres, said Mr. Saez is a serious artist whose funding was recommended by a jury of his peers.

"The project is being appreciated on its artistic excellence and on the credibility of what he has been doing so far," she said.

"We've known this artist for 10 years," said Ms. Pepper.

Regardless of Mr. Saez's reputation, some think putting fruit in U.S. skies is a waste of Canadian money.

"We think it's a silly use of tax dollars," said Adam Taylor, a spokesman for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. "It shows there is more money in Ottawa than common sense."

[...]

Even if it is possible, there is still the question of whether Mr. Saez will be allowed to launch his banana into U.S. airspace.

[...]

© The Ottawa Citizen 2007

Let's hope the FAA has some common sense.

Here's a plan .... how about we fire the Arts Council and recover our tax dollars.