Submitted by Debbie Willis on behalf of Grounds Committee
Greetings SHC,
As stated in our September and October newsletter articles, the Grounds Committee had planned to address a General Meeting regarding the question of the amount of our donation to the Sunnyhill Mural Project given that the mural was painted on half the enclosure rather than all the way around as we described it. It was our intention to ask that the full amount be paid despite this discrepancy in our understanding. With this, as with so many conversations about money and value, there were arguments on both sides about whether the Co-op should follow through with the full amount or not. In the end, the full donation has been made. To provide transparency to the membership, we wanted to give the background information about those conversations that allowed for this decision's arrival.
How the mural came to be
The Sunnyside Murals Project (SMP) sprung up this past summer, inspired by many of the fence and garage murals painted in Sunnyside over the years. The Project is run by Dexter Bruneau, who is the coordinator of the artist collective. One of our members, Debbie W., reached out to SMP for more information and approached the Grounds Committee about completing a mural at SHC. She presented this at the Grounds meeting on July 6th and received the support of the committee. Following this meeting, we moved forward with a petition to the Board to discuss this item at the July 28th General Meeting.
After a site visit, the SMP picked the northeast enclosure, by the garage, as their preferred mural location. They also designated artist Sarah Johnson to do the mural upon approval by membership and chose the August long weekend to complete it.
Before the July 28th meeting, we received this information from SMP:
SMP had requested a public art grant from the city
The artist would paint the entire enclosure
Previous examples of Sarah's work
We presented this at the July 28th meeting, which was done by Zoom. The following motions were passed:
To approve the Sunnyside Mural Project to paint the garbage enclosure by the Sunnyhill Garage
To make a $500 donation from the Grounds Committee budget to Sunnyside Mural Project
Sunnyside Mural's Project would choose the design for the mural
The following weekend, July 30-August 3, Sarah painted the two sides of the garbage enclosure that face the bluff.
Following the completion of the mural
The Grounds Committee received feedback from members that while they generally were pleased with the mural, they were disappointed that it was on only two sides, not four, as promised. Following this feedback, we communicated with Dexter to inquire about the garbage enclosure's completion. Dexter explained that Sarah felt what was completed fit the scope and timeline of the Project.
Following this discussion, Grounds decided to release only half the donation amount ($250) until we could further investigate how to move forward. After reviewing the artist's previous work, it became apparent that this size project would have cost us thousands of dollars had we commissioned it ourselves. It was now clear that the Co-op receiving local artwork for a mere $500 was a bargain, and we should show our support in valuing our local artists' work by releasing the remainder of the funds. We recommended this position, with our full arguments and support to the Board, who followed our recommendation.
Moving forward, we have discussed the possibility of Sarah returning to complete the remaining sides of the enclosure. SMP said this was a possibility; however, it would be considered a new project and most likely not occur until next year if taken on. There is also the option of members participating in painting our enclosures ourselves, which could be fun.
We appreciate your time and energy in this process and welcome any questions or concerns that members would like to address. Please send any thoughts you have to our email: SHCgrounds@shaw.ca, and we will be happy to discuss them either directly or in future newsletters.