This summer, second-year Schulich School of Law student Ziad Lawen worked to make Halifax a bit more beautiful. He volunteered his time organizing Paint the Park, a mural event that aims to beautify Mulgrave Park in the city鈥檚 North End.
Sixteen artists from across Canada, the United States, Tunisia, and Iran spent from August 24 to 31 painting colourful murals on several bare building walls in the community. The event began in 2016, when Halifax resident Jeremy Williams launched the project to honour his late friend Tyler Richards. Today, the street art has transformed Mulgrave Park鈥檚 outdoor space into a public art gallery, with large murals on the sides of some the buildings in the inner-city public-housing development.
When Lawen heard that Williams, who is a good friend, needed someone to help secure sponsorship for this year鈥檚 event, and to handle communications and media relations, he didn鈥檛 hesitate to lend a hand. 鈥淚 had a friend with a need, and it was a good idea,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t was a lot of fun to knock on doors and talk to people about what the project is all about. Mural art is a beautiful way of bringing art to underserved areas of the city.鈥�
Inspired and motivated to do more
Although Lawen isn鈥檛 an artist himself, he was happy to contribute in other ways. His duties included discovering different sponsorship opportunities, managing the media and social media platforms, and handling the general needs of the event, from picking up the artists at the airport 鈥� they came from as far away as Los Angeles, North Carolina, Denver, Montreal, and Toronto, as well as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick 鈥� to buying the paint.
A closer look at AXE's mural.
Before the event, the co-organizers offered to meet with community members to get their feedback on the project; around 15 people showed up to give their input and approval. 鈥淚鈥檝e been inspired by the kindness and generosity of the city in response to this project and motivated to do more to make Halifax even better than it already is,鈥� says Lawen. 鈥淲hy wouldn鈥檛 we encourage each other鈥檚 neighbourhoods to be the best they can be?鈥�
And this is just the beginning. Williams, Lawen, and Halifax artist Michael Burt have formed The Bigger Picture Association, a non-profit organization aimed at beautifying Halifax, of which Lawen is the director. 鈥淧aint the Park is just one of our projects,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e also want to renovate basketball courts around the city. If I鈥檓 going to live in Halifax, there鈥檚 no reason why it can鈥檛 be as beautiful as any other city in the world.鈥�