By Matt Kelly

Art project aims to make downtown North Battleford a more positive place

Feb 16, 2016 | 4:19 PM

Starting this summer, a new art project called Art Alley is trying to rejuvenate downtown North Battleford. 

It’s a collaboration between the Downtown North Battleford organization, the City of North Battleford and the RCMP, where artists are able to paint murals on and around buildings to transform the core into a vibrant and positive space.

“Research shows that beautifying an area that regularly attracts negative activity can help create more ownership and interest in the space and therefore reducing unfavorable activities. So this is the ultimate goal of Art Alley,” Executive Director of Downtown North Battleford Lisa Kissick said.

“What we want to do is brighten that space, clean it up, make it look more appealing and generate positive behavior in that space.”

The downtown organization is taking a back seat in regards to the actual artwork.

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“We’re going to leave that in the artist’s hands to decide what they would come up with as a concept for the side of a building,” Kissick said. “So whether it might be scenery, whether it might be a portrait, whether it might be a dedication to something or someone, whether it might be graffiti, whether it might be cultural art. We’re not sure yet.”

Kissick said the idea is coming to North Battleford from a successful implementation in Red Deer, Alberta.

“Downtown Red Deer has been doing this project for a number of years in their back alleys. We’ve been consulting with them to get this project off the ground and kind of see the background that they used and the results that they’ve had, which have been very positive.”

The organization is working with Downtown Red Deer and a Red Deer company called SeCure Consulting Solutions who collectively manage the project in the city.

Kissick adds the plan for Art Alley is to complete one or two large scale projects this summer, then continue expansion going forward into the future.

Interested artists are asked to mail two samples of their previous work along with a statement of why they want to be involved in the project to Downtown North Battleford.

Submission information can be found on the organization’s website. 

mkelly@jpbg.ca