Creating a brighter, cleaner neighbourhood

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This article was published 24/04/2018 (2922 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If a picture paints a thousand words, the walls of West Broadway help to tell the story of what the neighbourhood is all about.

From the medicine wheel at 161 Broadway to an upcoming mural planned for the new skateboard park, the drawings show the rest of the city some the characteristics of one of Winnipeg’s oldest areas.

Murals on the walls of pharmacies, grocery stores, and restaurants reflect the varied history and culture of Winnipeg as a whole and West Broadway in particular. More than that, the murals help to bind the community together. The Medicine Wheel mural at 619 Broadway, for example, is a “magical morale boost for the entire West Broadway Neighbourhood,” as the West Broadway BIZ website notes. The murals help to foster a “sense of pride and community spirit,” according to the organization.

Several local artists have been involved in creating the artwork around West Broadway and beyond, including Michel St. Hilaire, Michael Valcourt, and Jackie Traverse. Not only do the murals give artists the chance to display their work to the public, they also help to provide a way to beautify the neighbourhood; according to the Project for Public Spaces, multi-coloured murals can help to reduce or eliminate graffiti, which in turn keeps the neighbourhood looking brighter and cleaner.

Some of the murals are complex, with multiple colours and shapes, while others are simple, but all of them tell a story and spark conversations. The murals also extend beyond the West Broadway area, with several on Maryland and streets in the Wolseley and around the city. They are part of a longstanding tradition of decorating Winnipeg’s buildings with murals.

According to Josh Ruth of Art City, the next mural being planned will be at the skateboard park just west of the Broadway Neighbourhood Centre at the end of Young Street.

The Inclusivity Mural Project, he says, will bring “two amazing local artists on board to help kids in the community” create the artwork. The skateboard park itself is still quite new, having been built only last fall, a short time before the coming of winter ice put an end to the fun for several months.

The new mural is planned for June, after which it will give skateboarders and their friends and families extra enjoyment as they spend time outside. As artists paint more murals in the future, they will continue to record the life and interests of the city’s people.

Susan Huebert is a community correspondent for West Broadway.