Artists may get a chance to paint parts of the town: local mural art program announced with a budget of $70,000.

By Pepper Parr

September 16, 2014

BURLINGTON, ON.

It look like there is going to be an opportunity for local artists to “paint the town. On Tuesday, October 7, 2014 from 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM local artists are invited to attend the briefing event at The Hive on Elizabeth Street.

This event is for Burlington artists only ‘No one from Nova Scotia at this event” said Jeremy Freiburger who is organizing the event for the city as part of its Cultural Plan.

Jeremy Freiburger, author of a report that provided direction for the city’s cultural plan based on reams of data he had gathered. Now the city has to determine how it wants ti implement its Cultural Action Plan.

The city is launching the Local Artist Mural Program. It is intended as an annual program that will commission small to medium-scale murals throughout the city. The intention is to have one in each ward but locations will not be worked out until there is significant public participation in choosing the locations.

Burlington residents will have the opportunity to submit suggestions for mural locations and themes and the resulting commissions will be open exclusively to Burlington artists. As part of the program, free professional development opportunities will be offered to artists who may not have previous experience creating public art and/or murals.

“To ensure this program meets the needs of local artists, we want to hear from you”, said Angela Paparizo, cultural co-ordinator for the city.

Local artists are invited to participate in an open brainstorming session – that’s the event at The Hive. The purpose of this session is to identify program goals and maximize opportunities for local artist involvement.

Artists will be given some help with scaling a work they want to do; there are health and safety issues with putting something on the side of a building – what are those issues and how do they get addressed.

Freiburger points out that these “murals” may all be 2D – “but a sound installation could be done” – imagine a graphic of a steam engine running along the old rail bed in the Beachway with the sound of the train whistle. The possibilities are close to endless.

Freiburger is particularly good at tweaking people’s ideas and drawing more out of them than they thought they had in themselves. “I want to know where do you need the help, where can they Jeremy help them

Is this going to be “upscale graffiti” – undoubtedly someone will see it that way and squawk at the $70,000 budget.

Burlington artists, working in a variety of mediums (murals don’t necessarily need to be painted!), are invited to attend a brainstorming session. Dinner and refreshments will be provided.
To register, please contact Kim Selman: kim@cobaltconnects.ca or 905-548-0111