{"392361":{"#nid":"392361","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Living Walls Atlanta Co-Founder Shares Lessons Learned","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELiving Walls Atlanta, the organization that created 115 murals in five years, is taking a break from painting the town. Co-founder and Executive Director Monica Campana is spending most of 2015 evaluating the organization\u0027s past and planning the next steps for this nonprofit that has brought local and international artists together to create murals on the city\u2019s buildings every summer since 2011.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt is a transitional time for all of us,\u201d said Campana. \u201cWe really needed to pause and reflect on the work we have done for the past five years, and we are putting time into our strategic planning for the next five years.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECampana said the intention is to gather the ideas and dreams for the organization, put them into a visionary plan, and come back at the end of the year with a strategy to create more meaningful projects.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLiving Walls is an organization that created so much in very little time,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s how we want to proceed. I don\u2019t think that lets us measure the impact we\u2019re having. So, if we were to create projects that take longer and are more involved, we would be able to measure the impact.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis strategic planning is one of the things Campana is learning while temporarily living in Philadelphia and studying best practices with the city\u2019s Mural Arts Program, one of the biggest public art nonprofits in the country. During a recent visit to Atlanta, she spoke at Georgia Tech\u2019s Arts@Tech Salon Series \u2014 a lunchtime speaker series curated by Travis Denton, the McEver Chair in Poetry, School of Literature, Media, and Communication. The Salon Series features a range of arts-related topics meant to grow interest in the arts among Georgia Tech students in particular, but also among faculty and staff.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch6\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u2018Art can be scary.\u2019\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h6\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELiving Walls will be taking a hiatus this year from its annual summer conference precisely because it \u201cgrew too fast\u201d and still has \u201ca lot to learn,\u201d according to Campana.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResulting growing pains occurred in 2012 when some Atlanta residents criticized the organization because one of its murals featured a woman in various states of undress. Critics painted over what they found offensive.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2014, the city of Atlanta proposed an ordinance to regulate public art on private property. Discussion of the legislation during a city council meeting last fall resulted in a new string of criticism of Living Walls, both by neighborhood citizens and council members. A city-appointed committee, including a representative from Living Walls, is now working to write the legislation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cArt can be scary,\u201d Campana said. \u201cThe great thing is it represents the fears people have, and those fears are justifiable. Some are fearful of gentrification. Some communities want art to represent their story and history.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo address community concerns, Living Walls is putting more effort into having early conversations with community leaders. Campana said the introduction to the community has to begin before any work starts on art. Living Walls wants to create more dialogue with the communities. But, the organization does not want to create art by consensus.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe have to understand we are never going to please everyone with art,\u201d she said. \u201c\u003Cem\u003EI \u003C\/em\u003Edon\u2019t like some of the murals Living Walls has done,\u201d she laughed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe is optimistic that the issues between Living Walls and the City of Atlanta will be resolved as they find ways to better communicate with each other. She also is hopeful about the future of Living Walls, including a return of the summer conference in 2016.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELiving Walls Atlanta, the organization that created 115 murals in five years, is taking a break to plan for its future.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Living Walls Atlanta, the organization that created 115 murals in five years, is taking a break to plan for its future."}],"uid":"27713","created_gmt":"2015-04-01 10:22:43","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:09","author":"Victor Rogers","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-04-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-04-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"392601":{"id":"392601","type":"image","title":"Living Walls Boulevard Tunnel","body":null,"created":"1449246332","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:25:32","changed":"1475895107","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:47","alt":"Living Walls Boulevard Tunnel","file":{"fid":"75582","name":"living_walls_boulevard_tunnel.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/living_walls_boulevard_tunnel.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/living_walls_boulevard_tunnel.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1174799,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/living_walls_boulevard_tunnel.png?itok=NRWI7_1Z"}},"392631":{"id":"392631","type":"image","title":"Living Walls Centennial Olympic Park","body":null,"created":"1449246332","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:25:32","changed":"1475895107","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:47","alt":"Living Walls Centennial Olympic Park","file":{"fid":"75583","name":"living_walls_centennial_olympic_park_0.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/living_walls_centennial_olympic_park_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/living_walls_centennial_olympic_park_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1146953,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/living_walls_centennial_olympic_park_0.png?itok=rTyiWMw-"}}},"media_ids":["392601","392631"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/lmc.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"},{"url":"http:\/\/arts.gatech.edu\/","title":"Office of the Arts"},{"url":"http:\/\/arts.gatech.edu\/content\/5\/office-of-the-arts","title":"Office of the Arts"},{"url":"http:\/\/livingwallsatl.com\/","title":"Living Walls Atlanta"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"42891","name":"Georgia Tech Arts"}],"keywords":[{"id":"64641","name":"arts@tech"},{"id":"122991","name":"Living Walls Atlanta"},{"id":"123011","name":"McEver Chair"},{"id":"123001","name":"Monica Campana"},{"id":"37131","name":"Office of the Arts"},{"id":"9950","name":"Poetry@Tech"},{"id":"167123","name":"salon series"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:victor.rogers@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EVictor Rogers\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-894-6398\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}