Antyx

Antyx is a community arts organization in Calgary, that focuses primarily on theater and visual arts projects with youth.  They have an excellent website that describes their mission statement, community vision and core values, and updates on current projects. http://www.antyx.org/

Me Rockin' a 4X8

Antyx has done 100’s of murals with youth all over the city, so I decided to see if I could get involved in mural projects.  I met Alan Horn, (position) and we discussed opportunities for “graffiti” murals with youth, free walls etc.  The meeting seemed promising, and I looked forward to working as a “visiting artist” and doing a community mural in Bowness with the youth at alternative school.  I was asked if I would participate in a demo at the Bowness community center, during a "hip-hop block party"which was pretty successful and well received by the community. 

Female MC's Rockin' the Mic 

Anyways, long story/short, I never got to do the community project I was promised.  There was a lot of “problems” from the get go, trouble securing a permission wall and getting started.  The day of the demo, I proposed an alternative wall, at the back of the Bowness Community center, which was conditionally approved at the block party, by the local alderman.   At that point I was really still really hyped about creating positive change in Calgary.

Unfortunately, the wall was owned by the city, and It took months for the wall to be approved.  By this time the facilitators id been working with were no longer with antyx, and my role as a visiting artist disappeared.

This is when I started getting pretty upset with politics in Calgary.  If Antyx wasn’t fighting for this cause, than it didn’t seem like anyone cared about channeling young writers energy towards legal walls.

Finally in Oct, I did speak with the Director Richard Cambell, to get some closure as well as some insight into their position on legal graffiti in Calgary:

Here's a Brief Summary of our Conversation:

-I was concerned the Graffiti Bylaw in Calgary was causing youth murals using spraypaint to be deterred, and I asked him if he thought it was unconstitutional and if an organization like ANTYX would challenge the Bylaw.

-He said Bylaws are very carefully composed, take years to change, and me wanting to “fight’ the city on the bylaws wording might not be the best way for me to get to do “spraypainted” murals with youth.  He believes the intent is to deter tags, vandalism and tags not necessarily censor public art.  In addition, Antyx works with the city, they are not in the position to challenge bylaw, but rather work within the current framework.

However, we both agreed that as a consequence of the bylaw wording , the city may be able to exercise a lot of control over the content and media of murals, (ie censor public art).

Bowness Block Party

Antyx: Funded by Calgary Arts Development, Calgary After School, The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Calgary Foundation, Family and Community Support Services, the United Way.