Avondale Graffiti Art Park

Pitch - May 2017

CONCEPTTo create an outdoor, public platform for the support and development of a diverse range of graffiti art and graffiti artists through the installation of temporary (up to 2 years) walls through the top level of the Three Guys site in central Avondale with an accompanying programme of events and workshops.

This project will be used as a catalyst to draw positive attention to the site and drive further activity around it’s improvement. In anticipation of the development of a new community centre and other investment in the Avondale area, this project helps signal that there are good things afoot and that the community can look forward to further improvements.

How will this work?Custom made temporary walls will be fabricated and installed on site tripling the number of available walls for painting.

This site will be launched with a curated event featuring artwork from artists of various ages and experiences painted on site on the new and existing walls. The invited artists will be chosen to reflect the diversity of the artform and the people that practice it. The launch will include music, workshops and other arts activity.

After the launch the walls will be available to be repainted by artists creating a changing platform for art, while still offering a space for future curated events.

Workshops for local youth and pop up events will take place on and in response to the site.

Local community members will act as kaitiaki for the site, organising events, documenting the art, and monitoring it for dumping and damage.

At the end of the project the walls will be removed and recycled, minimising the waste.

Some ideas about how the site might look.

ADDITIONAL POTENTIAL ACTIVITIES● Workshops for students from local primary and secondary schools

● Workshops and outreach for NEET Youth in collaboration with local providers

● Installations, exhibitions and performances by students from Unitec Institute

of Technology and PIPA

● Graffiti and street art tours for the local community and tourists

● Graffiti Battles for local and international artists

● Events for performances, music video filming, and varying curated projects.

● Street furniture and shade building with found and upcycled materials.

● Marked parking for the informal parking activity that has begun

● Waste management and education schemes

● Cultivation of a public herb garden

● Ground markings for activities and games

OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES

● Urban Regeneration:○ Create a positive social and aesthetically friendly space rather than an empty lot that is currently used as a

dumpsite and huffing zone.○ Provide some caretaking oversight of the site to encourage urban pride.○ Support the Whau Local Board priorities around developing more local paths and connections, local weed

removal and restoration initiatives, and neighbourhood development projects.● Social connectivity and empowerment:

○ Cultivate additional activities through supporting further creative projects on the site. These projects would respond to community needs and interests in the Avondale area.

○ Create opportunities for community engagement and bump spaces by expanding the urban park offerings● Avondale as a destination:

○ Create a drawcard destination for Avondale with positive economic benefits for local business. ABA can build destination marketing around this feature in their community (much like K Road has with All Fresco).

○ Support the Local Board Plan goals to encourage innovative business and better jobs. Projects like this attract creative companies to the area and help establish a perception that the environment is conducive to these businesses.

● Promote graffiti as a legitimized artform: ○ Encourage aspiring graffiti artists to go beyond tagging and vandalism, to development of high quality work.○ Provide youth with pathways into art and other creative opportunities through groups and organisations such as

Kakano Youth Collective, Unitec Institute of Technology, and The Creative Souls Project.

THE SITE - a beloved graffiti ‘grey zone’

This site has been painted on an ongoing and informal basis for at least 10 years. It was part of a

wider collection of sites across Auckland that were ‘grey zones’ where there was no apparent

ownership. Graffiti artists took up stewardship of these spaces and painted them regularly using

them as a platform to showcase their skill.

Currently at this site there is a high turnover of artwork where a painting might last from 1 day to a

couple of weeks. This is in part due to the loss of nearly all other ‘grey zone’ sites across

Auckland.

In recent years, through the Whau Arts Festival, large scale murals have painted annually on the

wall of the Fruit and Vegetable shop which is highly visible from the street.

The site is loved by many locals who visit it regularly to see the new work. For some recent images

of the ever changing artwork visit https://plantationstreetgallery.blog a website set by Deahne

Lakatani from The Creative Souls Project to record the art.

THE SITE - a solution for a problem zone There is an existing degree of anti-social activity that takes place at this site, most obviously illegal rubbish dumping. This takes a toll on both community morale and sense of pride and negates some of the gains made through the learn to ride cycle track and the Spark basketball court.

In April 2017 the Avondale Police entered into an arrangement with the owner to be the kaitiaki of the site and are partnering with various organisations to realise community focused activity on site.

The graffiti art that happens there is already a counterpoint to this and is a much loved feature for a lot of Avondale residents and this project aims to leverage off that. It will work in alignment with the other initiatives that are planned for the site, including a pop up community centre and act as a support and backdrop for community events.

Other infrastructure to support social use could include: temporary gardens, the dill that already grows there can be supported with the addition of mint, parsley and other herbs; space for activities, painted markings could be applied to the ground to encourage other games and activities; temporary furniture could be built and installed to support gatherings.

We all hope that through active positive use of the site, and ongoing care for it, the dumping and other anti-social activity will be significantly reduced. We will work closely with police and CPTED advisors to address this through design and to support their programmes.

A

WHAT do we need to make it happen..● Funding - to realise the project we need to secure $70,000 in funding and sponsorship,

as well as a lot of volunteer labour.● To continue the project into year two we need to secure $22,700 in funding.● Community, council staff and local board support● License to occupy from owner

Budget Breakdown (estimated costs)

Year OneCreation & maintenance of walls $26,500Launch event and marketing $22,100Ongoing activation $ 9,800Project manager $12,600

Total $70,000

Year TwoMaintenance of walls $ 5,500Ongoing activation $ 9,800Project manager $ 4,800

Total $22,700

WHO will we work with:Graffiti prevention/removal/redirection groupsTony Crampton (Graffiti Vandalism Prevention)Tag Out Trust

Local arts organisations The Creative Souls Project Whau the PeopleTe Pou Theatre

Local community groups and businessesLocal ResidentsAvondale Business AssociationAvondale Community ActionCommunity Waitakere

Council Local BoardCommunity Empowerment UnitArts and Culture UnitCommunity WasteWise TeamCAYAD

Community PolicingCorrections - PD cleanups

Education ProvidersPIPAUnitec Institute of Technology

Bobby Hung (Academic Leader)Paul Woodruffe (Senior Lecturer)

Avondale Primary, Avondale College

Youth Support NetworksWhau Youth Providers NetworkGeneration Ignite, TYLAKakano Youth Collective, Mandy Patmore (Director)

West Auckland arts organisationsCorbans Estate Art Centre, Martin Sutcliffe (Director)Te Uru, Ioana Gordan Smith

3 Guys site owner and a whole lot more….

Parallel Projects and Case Studies for Reference:New Zealand

● All Fresco (Karangahape Rd) http://www.kroad.com/all-fresco/

● Activate Auckland http://www.aucklanddesignmanual.co.nz/design-thinking/activateAKL

● Auckland Community Fridge / Pop up Garden http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11757432

● Kokano Youth Arts Collective - http://www.ceac.org.nz/youth_arts/kakano_youth_arts_collective.aspx

● Henderson Youth Art Project - http://tearaway.co.nz/henderson-youth-art-project-the-power-of-street-art/

● Gap Filler Christchurch - http://gapfiller.org.nz/

● Paradox, Tauranga - http://www.taurangastreetartfestival.nz/

International

● Hong Kong Walls http://hkwalls.org

● Oi You! http://www.streetart.co.nz

● Ono’ U Festival International de Graffiti a Tahiti http://tahitifestivalgraffiti.com/en/

● Pow Wow! Hawaii http://powwowhawaii.com

● Wonderwalls http://wonderwallsfestival.com

● Wynwood Walls (Miami) http://www.thewynwoodwalls.com

● Pangeaseed: Sea walls https://www.pangeaseed.foundation/sea-walls/

WHO is organising this

There is a steering group developing the concept and taking responsibility for guiding the art and education programming including:

Dennis Brimble, Avondale local and organiser of Jazz’n’Joe Bobby Hung, graffiti artist, Unitec lecturer and advisor for Kakano Youth ProjectRoss Liew, graffiti artist, curator and event organiser Melissa Laing, Whau Community Arts Broker.

The budget includes provision for employing a project manager to manage the initiative.