DIDSBURY - Town council has approved funding for a Mountain View Arts Society mural project at 2014 - 19th Avenue.
The move came by way of motion at a recent regularly scheduled council meeting, held in person and on YouTube.
The society requested $2,000 towards the mural project, planned for the upper west wall of the Didsbury Inn.
It will be painted by Madden artist Michael Sydoryk and is expected to take about five days to complete, probably by the end of September.
“Administration has no concerns with this application,” said the Town of Didsbury's chief administrative officer Ethan Gorner. “The benefits of this project are numerous: public art installations add to the beauty and charm of our downtown core; the mural will cover a space this is currently riddled with graffiti; and public art offers many tourism and economic benefits to a community.”
The $2,000 contribution will come from the community grant program.
The total cost of the mural project has been set at $2,281.60, including $1,300 for paint and primer.
MVAS is a non-profit organization that supports local artists and events.
The town is not making the design of the mural public, leaving that up to the artist and the society, said mayor Rhonda Hunter.
“We are going to leave it to them to announce the design,” she said following the Sept. 12 meeting. “Council did have a look at it (during an in-camera session) and we are impressed with it for sure.”
Asked if the mural design is “family-friendly”, she said yes.
Hunter noted the town may soon create a policy regarding public art.
“That’s a policy I think we will get started on because we are looking forward to having more and more applications like this,” she said. “It would make it easier if we had a policy that would guide creative control and have certain parameters.”
As well as being an artist, Sydoryk is also a chiropractor based in Didsbury.
In other news from the Sept. 12 meeting, a mural project planned for the local basketball court will not be proceeding, council heard.
“The Zion Church youth group were championing this project, which would have seen the installation of a moose mural on the basketball court earlier this summer,” Gorner said.
“Unfortunately the artist scheduled for the project cancelled in late May and the organizers didn't have a back-up artist planned for.”
The $2,000 authorized by council for the project has been returned to the town, he said.
