An award-winning Blue Mountains project that has had a 100 per cent success rate in eliminating illegal graffiti will end this week because it has been unable to attract government funding crucial to its survival.
The Blue Mountains Street Art Collaborative (BMSAC) was feted by the State Government when it received a western Sydney community sector award this February but will cease to exist at the end of April because no government was willing to fund its ongoing running costs.
The Mountains Youth Services Team (MYST) project had been surviving on a combination of one-off grants and funding from clients, with MYST underwriting its operational costs — losses it hoped to recover on a long-term basis from government funding.
“Despite writing a number of grants to secure that operational base we just never got it,” said Mountains Youth Services Team manager Damian Cooper.
He attributed part of the blame for the project’s demise to the politically-charged issue of graffiti.
“It’s cleary not because the project is unsuccessful . . . It’s a competitive market out there for grants but to be honest my gut feeling is, from a political level, graffiti is very unpopular, even though we’re demonstrating a reduction in illegal graffiti.”
BMSAC co-ordinator Jarrod Wheatley said the project’s groundbreaking nature may have also hurt its chances of attracting government funding.
“This isn’t a model that exists anywhere else. With new initiatives, especially around a confronting issue like graffiti, it can be a difficult hurdle for funding bodies to get on board,” he said.
BMSAC engaged local aerosol artists to legally paint artworks in public and private spaces, resulting in a 100 per cent reduction in illegal graffiti wherever its murals were completed. High profile projects have included murals in the Katoomba and Springwood shopping centres, Blackheath Rural Fire Service station, and for private companies in Sydney.
Despite being forced to shut down in the region where it originated, local government areas from the central coast and Hurstville are currently looking at using BMSAC as a model. The MYST team will present a paper on the project’s success at a national youth conference next month, and its work will be documented in a book released later this year.
Although this external interest now has a bitter-sweet edge to it, Mr Wheately said BMSAC’s local legacy will be permanent.
“As much as I’m sad to see it end because of these reasons, I’m really proud of the young artists who have been part of this project and have been able to deliver these kind of outcomes for the community,” he said.
BMSAC artists will complete their final project at the Katoomba Kmart car park this Saturday, April 30.
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