This is a free event.
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Each year, we invite 40 artists to paint, and provide the materials.
It is a live painting, applying fresh content over a portion of previous years’ work. Due to the size of the wall, and the number of artists, we estimate it takes 4 years for the entire wall to “rotate” to new material (e.g. 2019 artists painted over portions of pieces from 2015 or earlier).
The location is the Wylie Street Wall, between Carroll Street and Pearl Street, in Cabbagetown, Atlanta 30316.
Cabbagetown Initiative has permission from the property owner, CSX Transportation, to maintain and beautify the space, obtains permits from the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, and purchases a liability insurance rider.
There is traditionally a block party on Saturday for the public from 11am to 8pm. A typical artist finishes their mural in 3-4 days (usually starting an outline on Friday evening, and finishing details on Sunday afternoon).
We offer free space for non-profit organizations to set up tents. Various neighborhood organizations participate in the block party by hosting their own fundraising tents: selling merchandise, offering refreshments, and recruiting members.
In 2019, we partnered with the Cabbagetown-based collective Georgia Vintage Goods to curate an Artist Market for the crowd to enjoy. GVG organizes a flea market / maker’s space, and usually makes an unsolicited donation to the neighborhood organization.
We pay off-duty APD officers for security, as required by law. The curator is offered compensation if the event operates successfully within budget. “Staff” members are volunteers. Our 2020 budget began providing more mechanisms to compensate artists, such as identifying marquis mural spaces that demand greater attention and resources and crafting focused funding or site-specific partnerships. Forward Warrior is excited at the prospect of offering Emerging Artist honorariums for the first time, which we hope will encourage tool acquisition, building a professional equipment cache needed for success.
Forward Warrior heavily promotes our participating artists and upon occasion makes connections with customers and collectors. We offer mentoring opportunities and endeavor to involve young artists in leadership roles that offer experience in arts administration or event management. Expanding these functions which aid with professional development is a key component of our five-year plan.
There are a few local businesses and individuals that support the project with donations and sponsorship. To date, the largest individual donor was Councilmember Natalyn Archibong, the largest sponsorship has been StreetArtMap.org, and the largest grantmaker (and largest overall supporter) is Fulton County Arts & Culture.
