The City of Peterborough’s Public Art Program is offering a new peer mentorship opportunity for local artists who are interested in gaining hands-on experience planning and developing large-scale road murals.
The Road Mural Mentorship Program builds upon the Renaissance on Hunter public art projects which, over the past two years, saw more than 20 local artists transform the café district on Hunter Street in downtown Peterborough with a network of road murals and artist gardens.
“The goal of the Road Mural Mentorship Program is to create opportunities for artists interested in expanding their practices into the public art realm,” says Wendy Trusler, public art facilitator with the City of Peterborough. “I’m excited to see the mentorship program build capacity within the local arts community for future projects like the Renaissance on Hunter.”
The program is open to emerging and mid-career professional artists living in the city or county of Peterborough, with artists and cultural practitioners from Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations especially encouraged to apply. The application deadline is 4 p.m. on Monday, May 1st.
A selection committee comprised of two members of the city’s arts and culture advisory committee and five community members representing a diversity of artistic, cultural practices, and expertise will review the submissions and select 10 artists for the program.
The 10 successful applicants will be mentored by the four artists — Aaron Robitaille, Josh Morley, Brooklin Stormie Holbrough, and Nuin-Tara Morin — who created the road murals for the 2022 Renaissance on Hunter public art projects.
THe four mural sites are located in the temporary sidewalk spaces created by lane closures on a stretch of Hunter Street West between Aylmer and Chambers streets. Applicants are encouraged to visit each site and consider which murals align with their own art practice, and to include this information where indicated on their application.
This is a paid mentorship program, with the artists selected for the program to receive $150 per day for hands-on training during mural restorations, which will take place from two to four days at each of the four mural sites.
Successful artists will be notified in early May, with the mentorship program running from mid-May to early June.
For more information about the Road Mural Mentorship Program and to apply, visit peterborough.ca/publicart.
