• Before an artist can legally create art on a wall there are numerous checklists and approvals that are needed.  Building owner approval and City approval must be obtained.  Contacting the building owner may be a challenge, as it is likely that if a business rents their space they deal with a landlord.  The landlord can give some approvals but when it comes to a mural, the owner is generally the one that needs to sign off on it.  So the process from idea > landlord > owner can be lengthy.  It can also take face-to-face time and usually a presentation to encourage the decision makers that the proposed mural idea is beneficial to not only their business but also to the owner’s profit margins and as a neighborhood improvement.

• The permitting process usually involves calls to the City, finding the correct department and obtaining the paperwork needed to get a City Permit.  The permit’s cost may depend on the budget of the mural.  For the sake of argument let’s say we take the lesser option and it costs us $75 for the permit.  This same permit needs to be filled out and signed by the owner.  Again, quite possibly another case of permit > landlord > owner.

• A ‘pre-approval’ is the next step.  The real decision of all approvals comes with committees such as Art In Public Places and the CRA Advisory Board.  They oversee anything and everything happening in their appointed districts.  Both of those require a presentation, and it’s best to have some kind of pre-approval heading into it, either from the City or from a Merchant Association, or both depending on what committee you are presenting to.  Someone has to put together a proper presentation filled with photos, mock-ups, approved paperwork, etc.  It’s also noteworthy that committees like these do not meet everyday or even every week so you have to be patient and wait your turn to secure a place on a meeting agenda.  It takes roughly 10 days or so for your permitting paperwork to clear the City in order for you to get on an agenda for presentation.

• Guess what?  You still haven’t put a single drop of paint on a wall yet!  During these presentations and (fingers crossed) approvals, an appropriate work of art must be selected for the mural space.  This might require an outside juror and a fee so that proper selection is made with fairness.  It takes time to gather all of applicants and their work in order for the jurying process to take place.  If a juror is not in place, a different committee takes on the role of selecting artists, interviewing artists, reviewing portfolios and proposed mock-ups.

• That whole process takes a lot of time, money and patience.  If a full-time business person is taking on this task, it’s easily hours of preparation and follow-through.  If it were someone’s only job it would likely take them a month or two (at best) to get to a point of painting the wall.  Compare that to a month or two of your own salary on top of the paperwork costs.  For example, if someone was paid $30/hour to complete this task and they worked on it roughly for one month at eight hour work days, their fee would equal $4,800.  You can easily spend 8 hour work days on a project like this when it comes to coordination of phone calls, emails, presentation assembly, time spent traveling to and from meetings and City Hall, selecting the juror(s), contacting, paying…  Or if your committee handles some of the coordination, then it’s the committee meetings that require time and feedback amongst everyone involved. * Information from Jonathon Ortiz-Smykla of OSGS Gallery| Studio

Murals by Craig McInnis at Broadway Bagel

Visit Craig at facebook.com/craigartist,    or email at craigart896@hotmail.com

 or go old school and buzz me 561.389.4800

amanda@amandavaldes.com 
www.amandavaldes.com