Kids, artists want to spray paint city hall

Iqaluit’s artsy types want to paint a grafitti mural on the back of city hall.

Heather Daley, an organizer for the Alianait arts festival, approached city council on Tuesday with the pitch, joined by Sylvia Cloutier.

They said the mural would be painted by kids, under the direction of visual artists Jonathan Cruz and Celina Kalluk.

The mural would be based on the same theme as Iqaluit’s upcoming arts festival, Alianait. The word means gratitude and happiness.

A dance floor would also be built from scrap linoleum and wood near the mural site during painting, “so we can funk it up a little bit and make it really cool,” Cloutier said.

They requested permission to paint the building, as well as $1,500 to cover expenses and a $500 honorarium each for Cruz and Kulluk.

“We’re going to teach everyone the value of graffiti art,” Cloutier said.

Deputy mayor Glenn Williams asked for council to review the mural design first. “We’ll be held responsible for it,” he said.

Cloutier said they hoped to paint the mural high enough on the wall to be out of reach from vandals, with help from ladders from the fire department.

That prompted John Hussey, the city’s acting chief administrative officer, to ask council to first check with their lawyer if the project would be covered by the city’s insurance policy, in case someone fell from the ladder.

Council made no decision on Tuesday, but Williams said they would try to support the project and work around any obstacles.

“We’ll try to find a creative way of doing this,” he said.