i just wrote this letter to the kamloops graffiti task force: not in a hostile way, but offering thoughts/ideas/solutions.
yeah, kamloops needs some walls, criminalizing graffiti obviously doesn't work, painting over it doesn't work. if we have a few legal walls in town, that could be painted white every 3 or 4 months so kids could hit it again, would help. organize a couple annual community art exhibitions downtown and at the NSBIA house, i've shown there."organize a festival. celebrate it, encourage mural/big graffiti instead of just tags. tags are where we all start, and it either becomes something, or it doesn't and kids get older and stop.
i grew up extremely poor in kamloops, i got into bad situations, i did graffiti, i rebelled, i felt excluded from society. i felt like i wasn't heard. no one cared. luckily, i got into creativity, and it saved my life, and it's how i make a living now. i ain't rich, but i'm alive and happier than i was back then.
graffiti is a social problem in that it is poor, disenfranchised kids trying to be heard, to be seen, nothing is worse than growing up poor and hungry, with addicted parents, in a disgustingly imbalanced society where so much affluence is around you, and you feel like you'll never share in it. don't know how to, no role models, no guidance, it's not just kids bombing walls irresponsibly. sure, there are lots of middle class kids tagging and bombing, but they stick to the south shore, the rest hit the north shore.
a few weeks ago i was doing a workshop in a school where almost all the kids lived with their grandparents. last year i was at some school somewhere, and there was a presentation by someone talking about alcohol abuse and stuff, then a kid put up there hand and said, "yeah, but my parents don't drink, they do drugs." later i found out it was meth/crack. old school people drink, younger parents hit harder drugs. i've participated in reading programs at elementary schools, helping young kids learn to read, hearing their stories got me back into working with youth.
graffiti is a symptom of a larger societal problem.
and when a small group of people wage war against a movement that is global, they are always going to lose, and there are better things to do with the money in graffiti task forces. put that money towards something, instead of hundreds of thousands of cash and litres of ugly beige, grey or white paint. is that the kind of world people want to live in? one devoid of colour? everyone wearing beige? or grey? or white?
we need creative solutions to address actually "hearing" kids doing graffiti, instead of the usual, ignoring, painting over and criminalizing it.
we need to be innovative and design new programs, start turning kamloops into an arts and artist destination city. everyone i know who is a professional art, or wants to be a professional artist moves away. because there are no opportunities in kamloops. the same goes for authors, musicians and filmmakers. i stay here because i have kids, but moreover, with the internet, i can live anywhere now, and go to the cities i need to go for work and come home.
we need vitality and imagination, we need to give the youth something to do, or they are just gonna drink and get into trouble. especially kids who don't "fit in," i mean, sure there's lots to do if you have a strong social circle and have money. if you don't, then you find other ways to occupy your time. kids say the same thing to me, they're bored, there's nothing to do here. nowhere to go. i feel the same way, i go on tour, or go on the road for awhile, and when i get back, i'm bored as shit. where's our vital arts/community centre that's open until 9 pm? or even, dare i say it 10 pm?
you invest in a vital, imaginative arts/community centre, with cool modern programs, i'll be anything kids will go in droves. have a few jam rooms with real instruments, have a couple hip hop rooms with gear for kids to record in, have a couple art studios indoor, have a wall that kids can hit outside, have monthly concerts where kids can show their skills. have monthly art exhibitions. people will say "ooh that's too much money," but if we invest that money directly into kids, it'll pay off in the long run socially. i was in kelowna last year, and had to do a presentation to city council there, and found out the cops get over $20 million per year, that's a lot of scratch.
take 5 % of that and start a youth/arts/community centre that's in tune with youth, and you'll save 10% in the long run. probably even more.
these are some of my ideas/suggestions at creating a vital arts community in kamloops. feel free to share this all with the board, look forward to meeting in person.
cb
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