The subject of public art has been a controversial one in Vancouver over the past few years but, by all accounts, the latest major project has been a huge success.
The inaugural Vancouver Mural Festival has brightened dozens of East End neighbourhoods and organizers hope this is just the beginning.
According to Gabriel Hall, one of the festival’s co-founders, one of the early obstacles was the misconception that something like this wasn’t allowed.
“Everybody just assumes that you can’t do things and doesn’t actually ask the question — like, could we do a big mural festival?” Hall said. “Could we do a big art celebration? Could we do something amazing and change the city?”
To the surprise of many, the answer was yes.
“I expected to have some issues and we really had none,” Hall said. “We didn’t have anyone come up to us and say, ‘I hate what you’re doing, this is stupid.'”
Hall and fellow festival co-founder David Vertesi approached the city, who they say quickly came on board with the project. They officially unveiled more than 40 murals on Aug. 20, transforming entire buildings in East Vancouver into canvasses.
Vertesi said they wanted to do more than just alter the city’s urban landscape: they wanted to change the conversation surrounding public art.
“It helped flip that switch where people stopped feeling negative about it,” Vertesi said. “All of a sudden, they felt OK to say, ‘I really like this and I want more.'”
The festival was organized on a modest budget — about $200,000 from the city. While they’re grateful, artists like Nick Gregson said what they really need is a change to the rules.
“The city needs to get rid of the bylaws that are stopping us,” Gregson said.
That, he said, would put Vancouver on the same level as cities such as London and even Montreal. He believes the festival could be just the beginning, saying the possibility exists to add hundreds of new murals to the city’s blank walls.
“I estimate 400 a year we could be doing,” Gregson said.