The Art Wall project stole the hearts of many who attended the 24 Hour Citizen Project in 2016, when Project Leader, Asher Corbell (a 16 year old from Shreveport, LA) was funded $1,000 to pursue his vision for the arts. What Asher really wanted was a designated wall where graffiti artists could perform their art legally. Since that time, the concept has grown into a wall where artists can pursue grafitti, street art, urban art and muralism. Asher paired up with local artist, Susan David, who feels Asher’s love for the arts needs to be cultivated. The duo hopes to mimic what other cities have done to promote public art participation.

Project Purpose: The Art Wall is a wall designated to artists from the community to pursue graffiti, street art, urban art, and muralism. The idea is to give young and/or aspiring artists a place to come express themselves outdoors in a unique, fun, and legal way.

Project Rationale:   The project stemmed from several successful examples of “Graffiti Walls” around the country that have been installed in an effort to convert  tagging and vandalism (see section titled “Paint Wall Examples”) into graffiti that is contained and manageable through a designated space, rules, and borders.

Proposed Location: The ideal location is a flat wall (i.e., side of building) that is visible to the public and well lit. Locations are dependent on appropriate permissions from building owners  (for private property) and local government agencies (for government owned properties). The idea is to create a vibrant area using artistic paint colors that was once a blighted wall/area.

Proposed Name:  The original name of the project was called the “Graffiti Wall.” After careful consideration and further research, the project team decided that the name should be more inclusive to other artists and painting styles. The new proposed name is “The Art Wall” followed by the wall location (i.e., The Art Wall @ 2^nd Street). The name is clarifies the purpose of the site and provides a location.

Paint Wall Examples: Many cities have already implemented these types of campaigns to promote public art and participation. The Art Wall Project in Lafayette is replicated from many successful examples from over the years. The most notable are mentioned below:

• http://globalstreetart.com – Organized over 1,250 legal street art murals in London since 2012.
• https://legal-walls.net – An aggregator for street art, providing 1,478 legal locations for artists to work.
• http://hopecampaign.org/hopeprojects/hope-outdoor-gallery/- A community paint park located in downtown Austin, TX. It is the only paint park of its kind in the USA. It was developed to provide muralists, street artists, arts education classes and community groups the opportunity to display large scale art pieces driven by inspirational, positive & educational messaging.

Access to Art Wall: The artist must be granted permission to use the space via an Art Wall Card, which is obtained following completion of an online form. The Art Wall Card is picked up at participating local businesses (i.e., Levee Skatespace (Logan Clothier), Rukus Skateshop (Dan Russel) Freetown Studios (Susan David)).The online form will contain the following:

• Name
• Contact phone number
• Contact email address
• Dates of wall’s use
• Brief description of design (if available)
• Size of the spot
• Photo or access to Facebook profile
• Agree to the Art Wall Terms and Conditions

Rules and Restrictions: The artist will agree to abide by the rules and restrictions of using the wall. The following rules will be communicated to the artists before use, and will also be displayed near the wall for easy viewing:

• Keep it clean – Keep the wall and surrounding areas clean. Leave no waste behind including cans or other refuse.
• Only apply paint to your designated area. Never apply paint on the ground or on other objects surrounding the wall.
• Keep your colors beautiful – No insulting remarks or anything offensive expressed in your art. No violence. NO EXCEPTIONS.
• Always buff your intended area. No buffing = no painting!
• Obey the art – Respect the other artist! Keep the murals above clean. Graffiti codex applies.
• You work may get buffed over… That’s ok. It may be time to start a new piece!
• Work starts at daylight, and ends at 10PM. No Exceptions!