4 Festival Inspire murals across N.B. promote connection to environment
With the cancellation of its summer festival in Moncton because of the pandemic, Festival Inspire and Encorp Atlantic still wanted to do something with their partnership.
So the two organizations came up with a plan to take their 'be a recycling hero' message around the province with the creation of four murals.
"That's why you see that they're on kind of like four points of a circle - Fredericton, Saint John. Miramichi and Caraquet," said Festival Inspire executive director Lisa Griffin.
Griffin said artists were selected for their ability to create the murals while also engaging with the community.
"Art makes our public spaces more beautiful and inviting," said Pierre Landry, general manager at Encorp Atlantic.
Griffin said Festival Inspire likes to pick walls in areas of a city or town that need a little bit of love or some increased civic pride.
"Right now Miramichi is done and it looks amazing and everyone is very excited."
In Miramichi, with the recent loss of the Vogue Theatre in a fire, Griffin said having artists there painting a mural on a nearby building might have been good timing to lift people's spirits.
"It's on the side of the library, public library in Chatham. It's a very 'well–used–by–the–community' space and they've just redone the park in front of it."
Landry said the murals draw people in, and the sites where they are located may become a new favourite spot for those living there.
"For example, the Chatham public library has said that they plan on adding outdoor furniture to the area next to the mural," Landry said.
Meanwhile work continues on the mural in Fredericton being painted on a building on Carleton Street.
Griffin said the work is a way to get people noticing, so other recycling or beautification projects can be encouraged in the area.
"We have a lot of people talking to us about the walls, and it's actually surrounded by a lot of other walls that have potential as well."
Griffin said her job is to get those conversations going in the community just don't happen otherwise.
"They notice it every day, maybe on their commute to work, maybe [a] walking, biking or driving commute, and it makes them feel uncomfortable and they wish they could do something about it."
Griffin said that's where Festival Inspire can help and show them what they can do.
The next mural will be painted in Saint John with that location to be announced soon. Meanwhile work on creating the upcycled art mural in Caraquet has been underway for a month.
"They've been working on four round circular pieces that will be installed on a wall and it's all melted down plastics that were used as something before."
Griffin said the pieces will look like waves when pieced together.
