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NEWS: 7th National Mural Symposium
Summary
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“Agincourt's Journey
Through Time”
By Rob Matejka, Kristin
Taylor, Andy Tsang, and Jeff Wong,
Summer 2002
Agincourt Mall: 2350 Kennedy Road. On the side of the Bank of Montreal
building, Toronto, ON
Utilizing suggestions from the community and historical information...more |
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Day One: Friday October 17th, 2003
Registration started at 2:00 pm on the second floor of the
Riverfront Radisson. For those that signed up, there was a guided
tour across the river to Detroit. The tour visited the Heidelberg
project and the Detroit Institute of Art. The visitors were able to
walk through the outdoor art environment that is the Heidelberg
Project, learn about its history, and have questions answered by
artist Tyree Guyton. A quick stop was then made at the DIA to view
the incredible Diego Rivera murals after which the tour made its way
back across the river to Windsor.
From 6:30 to 7:30 a networking reception was held in the Riverfront
Club room at the Radisson – with a fantastic view of the Detroit
skyline. Delegates had the opportunity to get acquainted with other
participants and catch up with old friends. The evening ended around
the corner with a casual supper at Patrick O’Ryans.
Day Two: Saturday, October 18th, 2003
The day began at 8:30 am where participants enjoyed a continental
breakfast in the Riverfront Club room.
WELCOME
Donna Marentette (Executive Assistant to the General Manager of
Community Services for Windsor), opened the Saturday session by
welcoming everyone to the city of Windsor for the 7th National Mural
Symposium. Donna set the tone for the weekend by telling us that
“creativity is the engine that will drive your community forward.”
Karin Eaton, President of Mural Routes, then welcomed everyone to
the Symposium and introduced Jenenne Whitfield, Executive Director
of the Heidelberg Project, and Tyree Guyton, creator of the
Heidelberg Project.
SESSION 1: KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Speakers, Jennenne Whitfield and Tyree Guyton from the
Heidelberg Project.
Jenenne began by saying “imagine what its like to have butterflies
in your stomach for ten years.” Jenenne took a wrong turn down a
polka-dotted street in 1993, where she met Tyree, and her life
hasn’t been the same since.
Jenenne walked us through a brief history of the Project and the
power of art to transform one’s life:
17 years ago, in 1986, Tyree begins the Heidelberg Project in his
neighbourhood that has never recovered from the Detroit riots and is
in decline. He starts to transform houses and empty spaces into
works of art, taking discarded objects and reshaping them.
In 1988 the project receives national media attention.
Bulldozers are sent by the city to destroy 4 of the “Guyton” houses
in 1991. The artists begin to rebuild and the “polka dot theme”
emerges.
Jenenne Whitfield joins the Project as Executive Director in 1993
and helped to form the “foundation” of the Heidelberg Project.
In 1997 there is further political upheaval and in 1999 the Project
is again threatened with demolition.
In 1998, without any government funding, the Heidelberg Project was
Detroit 3rd largest tourist attracting.
The Heidelberg today is a blueprint for urban revitalization and
Jenenne discussed how art can be a catalyst for renewal:
1) planting the seeds 2) watering 3) fruition.
Jenenne then introduced Tyree Guyton.
Tyree began by telling us that art is “making or doing anything that
has beauty and meaning”. It is the job of the artist to educate and
to come up with solutions. Tyree says he’s crazy and he knows it!
The Heidelberg Project is his canvas and he is like a conductor,
conducting colours and shapes: that has a powerful effect. Some
people love it, some hate it and some don’t know what to make of it.
That’s a good thing. If there’s no reaction at all then something is
wrong. Tyree told us to empower the people to believe that change is
possible. Take art and explore new avenues, see it, hear it. Learn
to look and listen to your blank canvas.
As a response to homelessness they took 6000 shoes that were donated
and placed them in the street and called this “Street People”.
Things like this bring attention to the issues.
Tyree and Jenenne then answered some questions from the Symposium
delegates.
The Symposium delegates took up a collection of pennies to
contribute to “The House That Makes Sense” – a complete renovation
planned for one of the existing houses in the Project, which will be
covered on the outside in pennies.
For more information on the Heidelberg Project visit:
www.heidelberg.org
SESSION 2a: ACCESSING GRANTS
Speakers, Sue Berthiaume from HRDC, and Ghislaine Brodeur
from the Ministry of Citizenship, the Ministry of Culture and the
Ministry of Tourism and Recreation, facilitated by Karin Eaton.
The following are based on notes provided to us courtesy of Sher
DiCiccio, Executive Director of Waterloo Community Arts Centre.
Sue Berthiaume gave us an overview of Job Creation Partnerships (JCP)
and examples of how it has worked in Windsor:
Not for profit and municipality eligible
Must have a sponsor from the community – public sector mainly
Can be an issue if there are union members in the organization
JCP looks at ways to enhance areas and attract visitors to that area
Windsor, sculpture garden was a project with City of Windsor, HRDC
E.g. Ford City Mural project 3-years, HRDC, Ford Motor Co., with
area BIA – 16 murals and a sculpture were created; from the project
a number of artists moved on as teachers at the community college,
did other projects;
Provided overhead costs for supplies, compressors for the
airbrushing; hoists for the mural artists; 95% of the people
involved go on to permanent employment. Some artists developed the
leadership skills to take on new mural projects
Go to website for specific info:
http://www18.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/programs/jobcreation/desc.asp
To qualify as a participant you must be unemployed or have collected
EI in last 3 yrs
Mural project was seen by HRDC as leaving a legacy in the community
of art, a draw to the area, recognition for the artists
Will not fund projects seen to have education as the primary focus;
such as hire unemployed artist to deliver an art program to schools
The project must be incremental to current programming in order to
qualify
Post Cards (mural project in Windsor) Grant was $146,000 for
overhead such as art supplies, marketing, etc. plus
They do not displace current employees or volunteers
Target Wage subsidy –
Unemployed individual or someone already collecting EI who has
barriers to re-employ
One on one program
HRDC subsidizes their wages
Up to 60% max of the wages
Must be a full-time job
Submit monthly for the subsidy
Expectation that the person will be hired after the training period
This is what Vocation Pathways does in Kitchener area
Skills development
Program to retrain individuals
Pays tuitions for someone to get skills for new job; e.g. training
truck drivers
Sue suggested that those who are interested in finding out more
about Job Creation Partnerships contact their local HRDC office and
ask their representative to contact her about the Windsor mural
project.
Ghislaine Brodeur of the Ministry of Citizenship, Ministry of
Culture and Ministry of Tourism and Recreation gave us an overview
of what to focus on when applying for grants from the Ministry as
well as descriptions of grants that may become available in the
future.
• Not for profits are eligible; no grants for individuals
• Focus often on community development
Tips from Ghislaine:
Focus on what your goals are for the project, what is the need that
you are fulfilling in the community
Get to know your regional consultant, what are their previous
experiences in the community?
Forming partnerships for e.g. all the galleries combining to create
marketing materials; funds were matched
No set timetables – try to have your projects plans ready for when
the grants become available. Windows of availability are usually
short.
Summer Experience program: 7 weeks, full-time, minimum wage, youth
between ages of 15 and 24 are eligible.
Ontario Trillium Foundation grants: contact your program manager
before spending the time to write a proposal, to see if your idea is
eligible for funding. Website:
www.trilliumfoundation.org
Karin Eaton then gave a list of resources that can be accessed to
find out about funding opportunities:
Websites:
www.Bigdatabase.ca costs about $1600 a year: searchable database of
funders.
www.ccp.ca Canadian Centre for Philanthropy. Must be a member: costs
approx. $225.00
www.artsonline.ca Has links to a number of funding bodies.
Shannon Porcellini of the Ford City Discovery Centre received money
from the United Way’s Community Building Strategy Grant, which may
look at murals as a community building initiative; the Ford City
Discovery Centre received approximately $6000 for a mural project
using youth.
Summer career placement program is funded by the HRDC and is
available to fund youth summer employment (10 weeks). The deadline
for application is in March.
The Department of Heritage may fund areas such as mural related
publications. The Historical society gives out community building
grants for historic representation murals:
www.histori.ca
Handouts on grants were available from Canada Council for the Arts,
Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation and Provincial
Grant Programs of interest to Culture, Sport and Recreation.
SESSION 2b: TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS: Effective presentation and
business tips for self-employed artists.
Speakers: Susan Nagy and Martin Lacasse.
Susan began the session by going over the importance of a good
presentation.
What makes a good presentation?
Tip 1: Follow a call to entry accurately - READ
1. Cover Letter
- concise, short, typed
2. Visual Documentation
- single most important element
- selective
3. Slide List
- Title
- Media
- Dimension
- Location / City
- Partnership
- Details
- Date
- Direction for viewing
4. Resume
5. Brief
6. Budget
Tip 2: KISS
1. Select images appropriate for a specific request
2. Practice quality
3. Write succinct description of the works
4. Cohesive Package
Martin Lacasse spoke about choosing your markets. Home décor mural
art is a potential large market base versus public art. Indoor
residential murals have proven to have a higher dollar value. Martin
paints in a classic style to achieve longevity in his work. Great
work, mixed with professionalism and customer service goes a long
way.
At times the client will want to take creative control of your
project. In these cases, you have to try hard to incorporate the
client’s ideas into your own style.
At the beginning of a job agree on an outline of what is expected of
the artist and the client in order to avoid difficulties along the
way, such as payment etc. Sometimes there is no avoiding conflict,
in this case, customer service must be maintained and you may have
to cut your losses.
Lunch and tour of Sandwich Murals.
After a buffet lunch, the delegates enjoyed a guided walking
tour of the Historic Sandwich Murals.
SESSION 3A: COMMUNITY BUILDING
Speakers: Trudy Turner, John Lehr and Mark Lefebrve
The following notes were compiled with the help of reports provided
courtesy of Sher DiCiccio, Executive Director of Waterloo Community
Arts Centre and Jessica Webster of the National Capital Commission.
The session began with introductions from Trudy, John and Mark.
Trudy gave us a background of West End Biz, which deals with
approximately a 220 city block area, intercity, core and old
residential. The brand for the area is “we are the world”; it’s a
very culturally diverse area.
They focused on multicultural murals at first that were singularly
themed. The community was interested, but not actively involved.
Trudy joined many committees to try and discover what would make the
community better. The goal was to build a community that people
would brag about being from rather than apologizing and being
embarrassed.
For their current project, West End Biz partnered with John Lehr;
they needed an academic partner to apply to Community University
Research Alliance (CURA).
CURA was established in the late 90s, by the social sciences and
humanities research council. CURA promotes participatory research in
the community and establishes partnerships between the community and
academics. It has an Executive steering committee 14 people: 12
community members, 2 government representatives (one Federal, one
Provincial).
Examples of projects funded by CURA:
25 projects have been funded by WIRA (Winnipeg Inner-City Research
Alliance).
Alternative forms of funding
Transportation issues
Affordable housing
Learning and resources needs of non profit organizations
The project:
A training ground for students
Intended to break down barriers and affect a positive change in the
community
With the grant money they hired 4 students, 2 of which “mentored”
the “at risk” younger students. The project had two components:
1. Wall Inventory consisted of:
Wall measurements
Address of building
Condition of wall
What the wall is made of
Visibility
2. Building pride and identity in Winnipeg’s West End
Research question: who are Winnipeggers?
Went through the archives and took pictures of landmarks in the 30,
40s etc.; collected stories about the west end; boards were made up
to take into the seniors homes; found the photos triggered their
memory about places
Conversations were recorded on tape recorders
They now have a binder of the stories
Outcomes:
As a result of the research
The students have produced a poster for a Geography conference
Younger students learned research techniques from the older students
Students were paid about $10.50 an hour
Students learned about other sectors of the community
They have themes for 25 mural projects lined up
Current project:
Local Heroes and Famous People
Generated a phenomenal amount of media attention
Business owners pay 25 to 50 percent of the funds for the mural
Brings more customers to the area
Have a mural book showing what has been done; gets updated regularly
Since then the Biz has worked with graffiti artists to teach them
how to go about painting a mural with business owners consent;
materials, creating a maquette etc.
Ethics issues:
The project was cleared through ethics board of the university. The
people who spoke to them, or were photographed, signed a waiver.
Media helped publicize the project, so most people came to them with
stories.
Mark Lefebvre told us about the evolution of arts in Windsor and its
tremendous growth in the last 15 years. He spoke about the
importance of being on committees as an arts representative to
ensure that culture gets on the agenda. In 1999 the City of Windsor
declared it the “Year of the Arts”. The Arts Council focused on
promoting a different arts discipline each month for that year.
This enabled them to secure a Trillium Grant for 3 years. During
this time they developed an outreach committee to maintain a plug
into the community.
There is quite a lot of strength in marketing as a region rather
than an individual community.
SESSION 3B: MURAL ARTISTS’ WORKSHOP
Presenters: Donna Jean Mayne, JoAnne Weston, Martin Lacasse,
Phillip Merlot.
Donna Mayne began with a slide show of the City of Windsor JCP
projects: Ford City, Riverfront Comfort Station, Postcards from Home
and Wyandotte Town Centre. Donna discussed history of the murals,
the inspiration behind them and her group’s role in them. The
majority of their work is done by airbrush on dibond.
Dibond and Bungee Banner substrates were presented and samples given
out. The versatility of dibond allows the artist to cut it and bend
it into custom shapes. The group has also worked with an autobody
shop to come up with a protective coating for their dibond murals.
JoAnne gave an airbrush demo that covered masking techniques as well
as airbrush movements. Other airbrush techniques include creating
texture using a wide variety of objects as masks, such as twigs,
leaves, etc.
SESSION 4A: PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES
An interactive session facilitated by Karin Eaton.
The following notes were compiled with the help of reports provided
courtesy of Sher DiCiccio, Executive Director of Waterloo Community
Arts Centre and Jessica Webster of the National Capital Commission.
Karin began by asking us how we engage the community where we work?
How do we take the impact of murals off the walls and create a
setting for other programs, installations and media? How can we
encourage artists to be more creative? Effectiveness is more than
painting on a wall; it also means community involvement and economic
development.
Each participant had a chance to contribute a creative idea that can
expand out of a mural project for discussion:
Community gardens
Postcards
Calendar and coffee table book
Soundscapes and streetscapes
Stir politicians through art
Community mural newsletter, with advertising to cover costs
Creative signage
Heritage partnerships, historical committees
Tallest, largest outdoor display of art: 5 year plan
Expanding artists style from heritage murals
“Beatz and Piecez” party: youth artists selling artwork in a club
setting
Creating texture
Commitment
Outdoor art gallery
“Metamorphosis” – tie in with the changing community, tell their
story, work with youth at risk, create butterfly gardens etc.
Continue with traditional program
Create more recognition for mural programs
Murals:
Do they have to be on a wall?
Are panels less valid?
Put up panels first and then paint on them while they’re up, so the
public becomes involved in the process.
Lease space to create paneled murals in a space that is
open/accessible to the public.
One of our roles as administrators is to make sure that artists are
properly trained and properly paid in order to raise the quality of
what goes on the wall. Let creativity be the driving force – give
the artists more creative freedom with what goes on the wall.
Is the art the product that goes on the wall, or the work that you
do within the community to produce it?
SESSION 3B: MURAL ARTISTS’ WORKSHOP – Continued from 2B
Philip Merlo, a paint specialist from Merlo Paint and Wallpaper,
presented some of his lines from basic latex to metallic specialty
paints.
Martin Lacasse demonstrated glazing techniques. He demonstrated to
the group his technique of faux-finishing to create a texture.
Martin created a demo of a window. Faux-finish was created using
simple brushes as well as a lamb’s wool brush.
Guided bus tour of Ford City Murals.
The Saturday sessions ended with a guided bus tour of the
Ford City Murals.
An optional live performance of the Rocky Horror Picture Show –
featuring Mark Lefebvre at the Capitol Theatre was enjoyed by
several of the Symposium attendees.
Day Three: Sunday, October 19th, 2003
The following notes were compiled with the help of
reports provided courtesy of Sher DiCiccio, Executive Director of
Waterloo Community Arts Centre and Jessica Webster of the National
Capital Commission.
The day began with a short walk to the Capitol Theatre, where the
delegates enjoyed a continental breakfast.
SESSION 5: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Round table discussion, facilitated by Shannon Porcellini
Shannon began the discussion by asking: as artists and arts
organizations, are we imposing our own values on the community and
is that right? A roundtable discussion followed.
The fact that these are about more than murals themselves, but also
the process was discussed. A mural can embed itself in a community
if it’s a fine piece of art.
It is important that artists be respectful of people that walk by –
even the “difficult” people. “Get off the ladder” approach to
dealing with the public. A mural program brings people together
while other issues more political in nature may otherwise divide
them.
Sometimes there is controversy:
A meeting can be an opportunity to diffuse any opposition because it
provides people an opportunity to voice their opinions
Make sure there is food!
Get someone who knows everyone to bring the various parties together
Everyone’s perspective is important
Graffiti and tagging issues:
There is a difference between graffiti and tagging – graffiti is a
style of art and tagging is vandalism
Graffiti gets related to crime by certain authorities and is lumped
in with other problems in neighbourhoods
Permission is a main issue
Challenge statistics given out about graffiti and links to crime
City of Ottawa – 6 lane underpass; youth brought music, created
party atmosphere; City has protected the space for youth; not to be
charged for painting there. “There is an apprenticeship element to
graffiti. Older graffiti artists can teach younger kids about more
sophisticated art; not tagging.
Shannon told us the City of Windsor installs all the paneled murals.
In Winnipeg, the city cannot clean graffiti off a wall without
written permission.
Guided tour of Essex Murals and lunch.
After the roundtable wrap-up, there was a bus trip to Essex
and guided tour of their murals that ended at the Historic Essex
Railway Station. Participants enjoyed a buffet lunch in the lovely
historic building. Everyone was warmly welcomed to Essex and some
historical information about the town and Station was given.
Karin Eaton and Jackie Santos ended the weekend by thanking everyone
for participating and thanking all of those who helped to make it
such a great success. Feedback and suggestions are welcome. It was
decided that the next Symposium would be in Toronto, with both
Winnipeg and Kitchener expressing interest in hosting the 2005
National Mural Symposium.
THANK YOU
Mural Routes would like to thank the greater Windsor Arts Community
and all those who attended the Symposium and made it a valuable
experience. The Board of Directors of Mural Routes would like to
congratulate Jackie Santos, Executive Director of Mural Routes for
organizing and coordinating a very successful 7th National Mural
Symposium in Windsor.
Mural Routes 1859 Kingston Road, Scarborough, Ontario M1N 1T3
Tel: (416) 698-7322 Fax: (416) 698-7972
info@muralroutes.com
www.muralroutes.com |
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