IN its relentless pursuit to combat public graffiti in Canberra, the ACT Government has called for expressions of interest to paint a mural on a city wall above the Cooyong Street skate park, with the local community helping to choose the design.
“A formal expression of interest is now open for all artists to apply to create a new art mural on the city wall,” Minister for Transport and City Services, Meegan Fitzharris says.
Ms Fitzharris went on to say that a panel would select three submissions to be assessed against criteria, including previous experience and a design sketch idea that would “reflect the identity of the skate park and its nearby community using a high amount of colour”.
The selected artists would then be asked to submit a final design, after which the broader community would vote via the “In the City Canberra” Facebook page for the piece of art work they would like painted on the wall.
“This new artwork will not only help to improve the look and feel of this area but also provide an opportunity for street artists to have their work on display in a highly visible part of our city,” the Minister said.
The initiative sees the ACT Government is partnering with “In the City Canberra” and The Canberra Centre. A fee of $500 will be paid to each of the three shortlisted artists to assist in their work on a final design with $18,000 for the winning artist, which includes the fee, spray paint costs, insurance, protective clothing and other equipment required to paint the wall.
“Once the final design is painted on the wall, an anti-graffiti coating will then be applied to help prevent any tagging or vandalism on the artwork,” Fitzharris says, adding that as well as the new mural, a new legal graffiti site will also be available at the skate park on nearby walls adjacent to the Angli-Care Youth Centre, one of 24 such legal sites in the ACT.
Local members of the street artist community who are registered with the ACT Graffiti Coordinator have already been approached, but expressions of interest from all artists are welcome until Wednesday, April 5 to tccs.act.gov.au
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