Black Lives Matter Murals Project
Calgary Arts Development endorses and supports the Black Lives Matter Murals Project under the leadership of Pink Flamingo.
In our role as a facilitator and connector, we have been thrilled to see this initiative start and to see the response from BIPOC artists and members of the community see their voices centred. We were proud to see a commitment and belief from The City of Calgary in finding ways where underserved and underrepresented voices can be featured and their stories shared more broadly.
We are also greatly heartened to see the overwhelming show of support for Doug Driediger’s mural Giving Wings to the Dream and the affirmation that Calgarians do believe in the power of public art to bring meaning to our citizens and remind us how we are connected.
However, it is greatly disappointing and alarming that there are some who have also taken this opportunity to voice their views in a way that has resulted in great harm and threats of violence being directed to Pink Flamingo leadership. This is NOT the Calgary we know and we implore all citizens to not let us become known for being a city of hate and divisiveness.
We support Pink Flamingo’s decision to find another location for this first mural of four and look forward to the time when Calgarians will be able to embrace wonderful pieces of public art for our community.
Black Lives Matter.
