Legal graffiti wall could be here to stay in Sudbury
A legal graffiti program that started as a pilot project in summer of 2018 could become a permanent fixture in downtown Sudbury.
Up Here, an urban art and music festival, requested the pilot project so artists could have a space to legally do graffiti. Not only is it something that has benefited artists, but festival officials said it's also a great scouting tool for talent.
“What the legal graffiti wall has allowed us to do is have our ears to the ground and see all sorts of great local artists who have a space to be able to scale up their work," said Up Here organizer Christian Pelletier.
"For example this year Sarah Dempsey, who’s a local artist who did a new mural above the laughing Buddha. She … did a power up box and then we saw her work go up on the legal graffiti wall where she was trying to scale up her work and when we saw that her work can really scale up nicely, we offered her a bigger wall.”
At its meeting Monday, a planning committee report detailed options for keeping the wall as a permanent place for legal graffiti, and also expand the program by creating a permitting process for legal graffiti walls to be added around the city.
“Sometimes some of the graffiti that happens is unfortunately difficult for the landowner to be able to correct because it's high up on a ladder or different things like that, so maybe an application towards making it a legal graffiti wall then there wouldn’t be a bylaw infraction,” said Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre.
According to the report, the wall has stopped some illegal tagging, and has mostly been a positive outlet for artists, young and old.
“The success of this project has really just proved that a legal graffiti wall works and we knew it would work," Pelletier said.
"But the pilot project just really made it work and now there’s a desire to do more, which is something we’re really excited about ... more legal graffiti walls throughout the city, so not just downtown, but to do some maybe in some outlying communities."
The proposal for keeping the legal graffiti wall will be presented at an upcoming city council meeting. If approved, Lapierre said issues such as how often the wall should be painted over to create a clean slate will be discussed.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
More than half the Canadians once detained in Syrian camps for suspected ISIS family members have returned home
A total of 29 Canadians have been freed from detention camps in northeast Syria and brought back to Canada since human rights advocates began lobbying for their release years ago.
Rare severe solar storm Friday could bring spectacular aurora light show across Canada
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Canada abstains from Palestinian UN membership vote but supports two-state solution
Canada was one of 25 countries that abstained from a United Nations vote on Palestinian membership that passed with overwhelming support on Friday.
Amish youth experience a rite of passage called Rumspringa. It’s not what you might think
The idea of “Rumspringa” has a specific spot in the American imagination. A rite of passage for young people in some Amish communities, Rumspringa is seen by most outsiders as a wild time away from strict Amish rules, when teenagers can experiment with the modern vices of the world.
Djokovic needs medical attention after getting knocked on the head by a water bottle at Italian Open
Novak Djokovic needed medical attention after apparently getting knocked on the head by a water bottle after a win at the Italian Open on Friday.