BENEFITS
Do the research on your prospective benefactor. Be specific and creative in how you will acknowledge them and make then feel good about giving to you.
Double check everything.

CONTENTS OF THE PROPOSAL
• Press Kit with the Case for Support
• List of your Board and Volunteers
• What is your total fundraising goal
• The artists you intend to use and their backgrounds
• Examples of past successful projects
• Visual eye candy: finished, professional and clean

Prospect Identification

1) WHO has a history of support for your type of project?
2) WHO are your politicians, local, regional, provincial, and federal?
3) WHO has the capacity to give
4) WHO has a vested interest in this project?

Have someone in the organization that is dedicated to this job.
If you can get a meeting, face to face is the most valuable.
Local and regional branches of national organizations have smaller “local and regional” budgets for community and neighbourhood projects

Network
The More people you know
The More people you get to know
The MORE money you raise

Research Tools
• Demonstrate shared interests with your prospects. Meetings, conventions, trade shows, club memberships. People are not offended by being asked to help
Why didn’t you volunteer? :
• #1 Response……. I wasn’t asked.
• #2 Response……… I wasn’t Thanked
• Online databases
• Google
• Library
Your proposal must reflect current and accurate information and interests.

Delivering the Proposal
Remember, this is sales
1) Phone, ask to speak to your preferred contact
2) Mail the proposal, addressed to your preferred contact, include personalized correspondence
3) Re-Phone and try for a face to face meeting

Stewardship
Immediate thank-yous are essential, both publicly and privately
Gifts are a big fat No No for Government
All government funding is at arms length.
It is their job to give the money.

Recognition
1) Reward both the “Donor” and the “Gift”
2) Personalize the recognition
3) Make it appropriate to size
4) Make it immediately visible
5) Make it something both you and the donor will be proud of
6) Make it “Public” (the donor must give permission)
7) Make it an Event
8) Make sure that the giver heard the thank you

Everyone Can Fundraise
Take the passionate, involved person who loves the project along with you to the meeting.

Talk to the prospect in person, not the assistant, if possible.
Write to the prospect person to person, not a form letter especially on the bigger projects.
This is not telemarketing; place the project in their community or area of interest.
Ask for 5>10 minutes, capture them to “catch their attention”.
If they are interested intrigued, they will extend the time, do not stay over 15 minutes.
Use the S.M.A.R.T. rules to make the project stand out
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Reasonable


Time Framed & Tangible
Use the Internet for initial research, many funders have an On-Line Funding process that shows the applicable funding stream and level of funding support available.

Ask for “more”, you want them to stretch.
“Give until it hurts, just a little”

Some Don’ts
1) Don’t forget to follow up
2) Don’t misbehave
3) Don’t change the subject half way through
4) Don’t overstay your welcome
5) Don’t leave the cell Phone on
6) Don’t dress “down”
7) NEVER GIVE UP!

SESSION 2b: ARTISTS INFORMATION SHARING SESSION
Panel: Artists – John Hood, Rudi Stussi and facilitated by Phillip Woolf.

Durability
• tried the same material as Flat Iron (building material) with car paint [Phillip Woolf]
• the more durable the material is, the more hazardous (typically)
• acrylic [John Pugh]:
 several/lots of coats of diluted acrylic => saturated
 half-half dilution for the first layer, thicken dilution with every layer
• use non-woven media, like synthetic material
• acrylic gel  apply and attach to wall
 stick onto plywood wall like a wet T-shirt
 can be done indoor then install outdoors (thus avoid weather conditions)
• durability depends on climate and location
• acrylic vs. house paint  budget
 house paint = “sketchy”
 house paint = difficult to mix
 latex house paint will mute (colors) over time
 depends on the temperament of artist
 durability problems = cracking, water, climate
- Sealant  designed for murals [Rudi S.]
 may flake [John P.] (he personally uses acrylic because it is easy to remove, retouch, and reapply)
 on top of oil paint (smog bonds to such organic material, thus dulling the mural)
 waterboard varnish
 acrylic on top of oil

Getting your work done by other people
- monetary matters  negotiable
- execution may encounter problem (each artist has unique style, hence sections of same mural may not match + remain consistent)
- leaving your work in other’s hands
- require precision in giving instruction
- computerized  concern: done through machine, not human hands

Acrylic
- more toxic than we thought [Phillip Woolf]
- ammonia, aldehyde
- may cause cancer, tumour in stomach
- A book by Victoria Finley, “Color”
- wear a mask
- danger: inhalation and ingestion of fume and dust in large quantity

Nathan Zakhiem
- in L.A.
- he “saves” murals
- faded murals, or thought to be faded, are caused by cracked paint (crystallized), and the pigments are blocked by the crystals
- break it down, then fill it in
- revitalize colors

How to get work through
- Visual Art Ontario: www.vao.org
- proposal as complete as possible
- Photoshop: useful in showing layering; helps to visualize artwork on site
- networking: let people around you know what you are doing
- contact corporations and give proposals (pitch: more business-based than art-based)
- keep in touch with community – it will help and support projects


Lunch
Delegates enjoyed a buffet lunch and time to chat from 12:30 – 1:30 pm.

SESSION 3A: SUCCESSFUL MURAL PROJECTS
Speakers: Mark Dias of Homo Air Ectus and Leah Burns.
Facilitated by Karin Eaton.

Mark Dias – Homo Air Ectus
Challenges
Some educators did not/do not consider graffiti to be “Art”
Can’t pick the site must use what’s available
Some sites are physically challenging

Assets
• Walls are in the community or neighbourhood
• They are unlimited was for as long as needed.
• The walls are an “in kind donation.”
• Projects overcome graffiti problems by using the students to create acceptable images that they “own” through their participation.
• The increased ownership cuts the “tagging” of walls.
• Teaches the youth useful technical skills and to work with others skills.
• Youth help develop the image through initial concept sketches as well as painting finished mural Generally a $1000.00 fee for the successful design.
• Work is done in the daytime; is a good summer project with lots of interaction with the public leading to greater acceptance and ownership by the community
• The Murals focus on what the youths “Do Have”
• “Neighbourhood Watch” provides liaison and contacts help to guard and maintain

Using the Air Brush
Environment friendlier
“Slower” allows for greater development of skills
“Slower” so that it sticks better

Site Specific Challenges
Damaged wall, vandalism, wear & tear.
5 to 10 Year life span of the image
Engineering (City) must be able to assess wall for damage etc.
Scaffolding

Leah Burns then spoke about her experience working as a mentor artist with Mural Routes, this past summer, on a youth mural project. The Bluffers Tales storytelling group was engaged to create stories about the community that would inspire the artists. This process worked quite well because it gave the artists a great starting point to take their imagery from.

Leah then went on to describe the symbolism in the mural “Chrysalis” that she created with the students.

Trudy Turner West End Biz Murals, Winnipeg
Mural Mentorship Program is 3 years old and growing.
It is primarily a Student-to-Student Program using University Students in general not Fine Arts specific.
It is an urban social development project with “no possession” or “ownership” of the finished work by the sponsor.

2004 Project worked in the school with the Art teacher.
Each class, Kindergarten to Grade 6, created individual image(s).
The images clearly show increased refinement and skill development.
The kids voted on the images created in their class.
The images were combined to flow along from Kindergarten to Grade 6.
The community created the mural following the images of the kids.
The finished mural is 132’ long x 4’ high set 2’ off the ground.

SESSION 3B: TIPS ON CREATING TROMPE L’OEIL
Speaker: John Pugh from Los Gatos, CA.
Facilitated by Ricardo Santos.


Nova Color paint - can only order directly from them
- half the price of Golden
- a standard for people in the mural industry
- fairly thick; can be thinned by water
- (310) 204-6900

Non-woven media - Nathan Zakheim
- (323) 512-8100

Wanda Greenblat - she installs murals
- (408) 265-8699

- when drawing life-sized figures, make it slightly larger than it is supposed to be, then it will be visually correct
- avoid actions (in figures) that require constant/instant motion (it will ruin the illusion)
- there are always subtle reflections, even on materials that are not expected to have reflections (such as wood, stone, etc.)
- make vertical lines stand out more than horizontal lines because the light (which typically comes from the top or the bottom) highlights the vertical lines more than horizontal lines
- creating flat murals/surfaces within the illusion enforces the three-dimensional objects in the illusion (illusion within illusion)

The rest of John’s presentation is available on a separate report to Symposium delegates.


SESSION 4: URBAN MURAL TOUR AND DISCUSSION

The delegates enjoyed a brief coffee break before boarding the bus for an afternoon viewing a variety of Toronto murals. Several of the mural artists were on hand to give information about their murals. Regrettably, two murals had to be cut out of the tour due to bad traffic and time constraints.

Many of the Symposium attendees finished the evening with a delicious dinner at Sasi, a local Thai restaurant.

Day Three: Sunday, November 14th, 2004

The day began with a short bus ride to Todmorden Mills Heritage Museum, where everyone enjoyed a buffet breakfast.

SESSION 5: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GREAT MURALS?
Round table discussion, facilitated by Karin Eaton

- mural artists want to do more than heritage murals – why not on social issues?
- because there has to be funding
- perhaps private murals could be about social issues
- do the artists have to push for murals to not just be about heritage?
- perhaps artists should try to incorporate social issues subtly into their work

- there is a mindset among some people that murals are not art, but if fact murals have been around for ages (since the cave drawings)
- so how much pull a mural artist has depends on the function of murals in society

- it is important to clarify between heritage vs. collage – heritage is historical but can still say something important, but collage doesn’t necessarily have any meaning

- artists have to be on the cutting edge
- they want their art to speak with their voice
- artists do not want to offend
- there is a tension – what’s a good piece of work to look at vs. is it saying something?
- art for arts sake – art has to do something more than the ordinary

- what is a collage?
- filling a clients grocery list, often with unrelated objects and the artist has to do it because he/she gets paid to
- art makes a statement and can be something as simple as the artist’s relationship to the community
- we shouldn’t limit what a statement is, just because of what’s “in”

- many mural committees look at a communities history
- many people are in the same community for generations – there are places which aren’t as transient as Toronto
- the murals help the youth of those communities have a connection to their past
- it is the experience of some organizations that in the early 1990’s things used to be different – people found artists and then told them to express themselves in their own style around a theme
- now money like that is very hard to access and there are huge boundaries put on the artists
- less funding is available now for Mural Routes and organizations like them

- however not all artists feel limited

- art for arts sake but each mural is an outdoor community permanent instillation
- there had to be restrictions, censorship
- can’t always just give the artists a carte blanche

- culturally everyone is pursuing a bargain – everyone wants the lowest price
- artists as producers have to understand that their customers have the same motivation to get a bargain
- perhaps a solution could be that artists could receive the income for a mural over a period of time and this would help the funder budget

- a mural artist quoted Toyota $10 000 for a job, but they went with a photographer instead because it was cheaper, even though they could afford it
- others work with mural artists that charge approximately $30 000 for their murals
- payment standards have to be put in place
- ideally some would like to get away from project funding
- murals are community art – they are outdoors, kids will be walking by, and people can’t choose not to look at it
- mural artists should try to educate the community through their murals
- the artist should be trying to connect with the community

- perhaps the government can establish a program where mural artists get breaks on some things as a way to combat the low paying jobs

- artists need liaisons – they shouldn’t get caught in the middle between the communities, the funders, etc.
- best funding scenarios involve collaborations between a lot of people
the artist has to be a networker and has to be able to compromise and negotiate
- mural art – is site specific, people specific and location specific

- problem solving has to happen throughout the entire mural process and as working mural artists should be able to deal with the problems that come up
- the design process is meant to solve problems

- some believe that censorship is non-issue but some artists do feel censored by the power of the dollar
- when an artist is established, they can say no to bad paying jobs
- established artists set standards for themselves
- some artist undercut other artists
- customers just want a formula that they can plug numbers into and know how much to pay an artist

- however some are not undercutting but simply struggling to exist and simply can’t afford to set standards
- artists are competing for work
- start up artists are often cheaper
- Aboriginal artists sometimes charge very little for amazing work

- Teachers sometimes have the mindset that one can’t make money as an artist and people begin to undervalue themselves
- they also have the opinion that community art is not to be valued and this is hurting artists
- devaluation of the artist starts in kindergarten
- emphasis is based on a certain kind of education
- get the better marks and you’ll get a better job is the message
- art intelligence is not on standardized testing
- no evaluation set up for art in the education system, therefore there is no appreciation

- only few established artists will find good jobs with corporations that pay well
- the average artists don’t get those kinds of jobs
- there need to be standards
- the government needs to educate the public

- Mural Routes – perhaps they should have a PDF with pricing guidelines
- everyone wants it done for free
- why hire a real artist if students will do it for cheap
- some would like a national set of standards for square footage costs
- but those would have to come from all over Canada not just from the Mural Routes board room
- it is also important to know which artists are good at what
- people are raising money for the mural to be painted and want it to look right

- there are different qualities of mural art
- there can’t be standards because there has to be different tiers for quality and they has to be the potential for diversity
- student mural programs are also valuable

- there needs to be the right fit between the artist and the project
- perhaps artists should have online portfolios/websites
- Mural Routes offers a very cheap program for artist without a website to display some of their work and if artists do have a website they will have a link to their site

- it is hard for emerging artists to walk away from work and that is why they will sometimes work for cheap

New Discussion Topic – Walls
- do walls have to be smooth?
- murals are site specific – you have to be sensitive to your medium, knowledge of your materials is very important
- the wall will dictate the amount of detail in the mural
- there are always ways of dealing with technical problems
- if the wall has to be fixed, include that in the cost

- in Toronto advertising has much more space than murals but this is not necessarily the same everywhere
- different in other municipalities

- an interesting project would be to designate a wall to be like an outdoor gallery and over the period of one hundred years there would be a new mural painted every 10 or 15 years

- murals sometimes have to compete with billboards
- ViaCom wants any space that has any advertising potential
- But the artist can have a beneficial relationship with a corporation who wants to advertise
- artists should be pitching, but what if you’re a fantastic artist with no business skills – there has to be a public entity that would nurture the mural industry
- someone that would act as an agent
- artists can do everything, but they shouldn’t have to

- in some areas there are sign bylaws that force people to use murals in order to have a large presence
- this is a result of smart city planning – there needs to be cooperation between city planners and artists


Feedback:
- a symposium like this is valuable
- it good for networking, educating, rewarding, and there is a certain energy
- important to advertise this event not just to mural artists
- it would be beneficial if there were some clients attending
- expand outreach
- mural artists would like to meet contacts at the Symposium – such as the director of the Sculpture Garden
- maybe add a tradeshow aspect just for the business side of things – artists could show their work
- show the benefits of the work to the clients
- perhaps there should be districts around Canada that could spread the word about the Symposium – they would help to pull people in
- artists invest a lot to be there would like the entire experience to be beneficial
- would like to do more ‘shmoozing’
- more city representation, more client representation
- perhaps should invite more of the ‘dealmakers’
- important to educate mural buyers
- before/after pictures of walls – perhaps have the store owners tell of their experience and the benefits of a mural – there’s really no faster way to enhance your public profile in the community
- presentation – artists choose one project that they have completed and have a short presentation about the process
- perhaps there should be portfolio presentations


THANK YOU

Mural Routes would like to thank all those who attended the
8th National Mural Symposium and made it a valuable experience.



Mural Routes 1859 Kingston Road, Scarborough, Ontario M1N 1T3
Tel: (416) 698-7322 Fax: (416) 698-7972
info@muralroutes.com www.muralroutes.com