Mural festival adapts for September run

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This article was published 15/07/2020 (2144 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s annual mural festival may be one of the only public events to happen in real life during the coronavirus pandemic this year — albeit with some format changes.

Synonym Art Consultation announced Monday that its Wall-to-Wall Mural and Culture Festival will go ahead as planned this September, with dates to be announced later this summer.

Instead of painting multi-storey murals, artists are invited to submit digital designs to be printed on panels and installed around the core area of the city by a local sign company.

“By shifting to a digital submission model, we are keeping artists connected to the public at a safe distance,” Synonym co-director Andrew Eastman said in a release. “We are able to highlight the works of artists we have not been able to as readily in a public setting, such as graphic designers, photographers, and text-based artists.”

Deadline for submissions is Aug. 1. Designs will be selected by Synonym’s new artistic committee and the winners will receive a $1,200 honorarium.

The festival’s mainstay music events will be hosted virtually and will include drag, DJ and dance performances.

Synonym’s second rural mural festival, set to take place in five Manitoba communities and reserves this summer, has been postponed owing to the pandemic.

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca