Proposed Mural Project

Just around the corner to my house is a wall covered in crap graffiti.  Judge for yourself...

From the first drawing of a cock to the most recent message of clichéd teenage rebellion, it all occurred within a short space of time (less than a year) and then suddenly stopped.  Nothing has changed on this wall for months.  The apparent spurt of enthusiasm seems to have run out.  Presumably due to a realisation that spray paint is rather expensive and a massive waste of money when you take into account the culprit's below-par artistic abilities.

So on this, the day that Taunton Deane Council's Arts Officer clears her desk and walks away from the building for the last time I decided to counteract our community's loss of culture by producing an artistic proposal.

With the support of a the community I could produce this idea that I have been pondering on for a while....

The design is kind of tiki inspired and purposefully avoids any overt mood or message. It's a simple gradient base coat applied with rollers, overlaid with a repeating pattern stencil. Designed to be visually pleasing but ambiguous in it's message.

I reckon it would cost about £100 in paint and take 2 - 3 days to complete.  There are several options of how to do it...

1. Schedule it for a school holiday and source help from the vast pool of bored teenagers that kick around ping-ponging between parents who don't want them stuck in doors and commercial premises who don't want them hanging around.
2. Do it entirely on my own which would take longer but would require much much less organising and therefore probably balance out to be the same amount of time.
3. Involve friends and make the project into an artistic collaboration.  This is hard because most people want paying and budget might be tight.

Then there's the issue of funding.  Again several options of how to do it...

1. Apply for a community project grant from one of the numerous funding bodies.  This will take ages to authorise and will almost certainly require me to involve bored teenagers as a means of justifying the funding.  All this combined will probably triple the length of the project and really sap the energy that I have for this idea.
2. Appeal directly to my neighbours who use this path.  There are approximately 200 homes in close proximity to this path and they all use it.  If less than half of those people wanted this enough to donate a pound I could make this project happen.  If half the people donated £2 I could buy the paint, recruit a team of 5 helpers, give them each a tenner and throw a barbecue for them when the project is finished.
3. Approach the council and offer my services as an alternative to their cleaning bill which always seems to be ridiculously costly every time it's reported in a story in the Gazette.

There are a few youth workers who do this kind of thing around Taunton so I would like to ask their advice.  I also have my connections with Somerset College and a few other people working in community groups who are always looking for projects to involve their people with.

As I have said this project really relies on community support so please, now is the time for you to voice your thoughts.  Please post a comment to express firstly whether or not you approve of the idea and secondly which plan of action you think I should take and why.

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