Page 533 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 17 February 2016
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requires a whole-of-community response. I am very pleased to say that a group of south Canberra residents are working with TAMS to form a volunteer group to remove graffiti from private assets such as residential fences. They will be provided with funding to assist with the purchase of insurance and removal materials.
To progress these matters, the former minister, Minister Rattenbury, held a roundtable discussion with representatives of Canberra’s street art community, Gungahlin Community Council, CBD Limited and TAMS last year in May. It was well attended, and a large number of ideas were floated about how better to manage urban art through the involvement of the street art community. Ideas included the provision of more legal practice walls and mural sites to encourage legal, higher quality urban art that will add vitality and colour to our public places and deter annoying and unsightly tagging. I hope members have had a chance to see some of the street art on display around Canberra. Tocumwal Lane in Civic, Braddon and Dickson in particular are great examples of how we can encourage people to put their talents to better use than mindless tagging. A second roundtable is scheduled for later this month to guide and build on new ideas to create legal opportunities for street art and to prevent illegal graffiti.
TAMS has approached other agencies to include murals on public assets that have a recurring problem with graffiti. TAMS is currently working with Domestic Animal Services, the Land Development Agency, the Forensic Medical Centre, sport and rec and several sports clubs to install murals on walls. TAMS is also working with the commissioner for children and young people and CBD Limited to implement programs to divert graffiti offenders. Indeed, CBD Limited welcomed the announcement of the graffiti coordinator.
An extensive area of wall is being made into a practice wall at Yerrabi Ponds and we are working with the Gungahlin Community Council to install a large mural within that site. The government provides legal graffiti sites and community mural art sites as a diversion for illegal graffiti. TAMS is currently in the process of placing maps on the TAMS website to identify the locations of legal practice walls, and new sites for practice walls are being investigated in consultation with the street art and broader community. These sites must comply with a range of requirements to minimise the impact on the amenity of the area and residents. TAMS will also reopen the Callam Street drains at Woden once works are implemented to ensure the safety of users. The Callam Street drain has the largest and oldest legal art walls in Canberra. TAMS is also currently working with artists to open more mural sites in the area, in positions where the resource is otherwise not utilised.
To help in the reporting of graffiti, an app is being developed to allow members of the public to report graffiti on public assets straight to TAMS. The app will assist in the reporting of graffiti on private assets as well, such as residential fences, and will assist in identifying longer term management measures for high target areas.
TAMS data collected on graffiti incidents indicates that there is an increase in graffiti during the school holidays. To better inform the community and to target our youth, TAMS will be working with schools to raise awareness of legal art sites and inform
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