Vancouver Mural Festival Co-Founder and Executive Director David Vertesi Steps Down; Andrea Curtis Assumes Interim Role
David Vertesi and Andrea Curtis, Vancouver Mural Festival. Photo credit: Steff Love. Mural by Debra Sparrow & Gabriel Hall
In the past 5 years, VMF has transformed the urban landscape with over 300 murals; grown from a small grassroots initiative to one of Canada’s largest public events; shifted local discourse around the importance of public art while championing regional talent; created opportunities for a diverse range of artists; and helped pay $2 million directly towards artists and their projects.
Despite 2020's challenges, VMF demonstrated its ability and creativity to rise above and create an even more memorable year. This spring, the team spearheaded an inspiring collection of 60 murals on boarded up storefronts to bring hope and joy back to the city. And this summer, the festival not only continued, but expanded to 9 neighbourhoods with 60+ new murals, all searchable with the new VMF mobile app.
Today, we announce the resignation of Executive Director and Co-Founder, David Vertesi, effective December 31, 2020. David has achieved what he set out to accomplish during his tenure as the festival’s leader and we wish him all the best on his future projects. After an incredible first five years, VMF is ready to enter its next phase.
A letter from David Vertesi:
Friends, Colleagues, Partners,
At the end of this year, I will be stepping down from my position as Executive Director of Create Vancouver Society and Vancouver Mural Festival. What an incredible journey it’s been. I have watched VMF grow from a wild idea that everyone said wasn’t possible in Vancouver to an internationally respected and highly impactful values-driven organization that has touched the lives of thousands of people over the past five years, including our artists, community stakeholders, partners, attendees and friends.
When I first began exploring the idea of a mural festival back in 2015, I met with anyone who would listen: business owners, city staff, politicians, industry professionals, non-profits, artists, and many others. The consistent refrain was enthusiastic support for the concept mixed with cautious scepticism that such an audacious event of such far-reaching scope and scale could ever happen in our “No-Fun City.” In spite of these misgivings, or perhaps even driven in part by them, I wanted to push the idea forward, as I knew it was about more than just hosting a fun event or putting paint on walls. I hoped we could change the way Vancouver saw art — as well as itself.
Five years later, we’ve achieved that goal and then some, and I can feel it’s time to pass the torch of leadership to our incredible team so they can continue building on that success. I will be taking time to focus on my family and my music career, and I’ll also explore future opportunities in arts advocacy and beyond.
As I look back, I feel so proud of all VMF has accomplished. We have created more than 300 murals with artists from a wide variety of artistic and cultural backgrounds. Our events have provided a platform which has cumulatively connected hundreds of thousands of people to the work of local artists and a wide array of emerging cultural organizations. And we’ve directed more than $2,000,000 to artists, their projects, and their training.
Many of our artists have been first-time muralists or hail from communities that are typically underrepresented in the mural and public art space. We have supported the visibility of Indigenous culture on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil’Waututh through the creation of many of the city’s largest pieces of First Nations, and most notably local Coast Salish, public art. We’ve worked to destigmatize graffiti art and street art, producing a number of the first legal works by artists from these misunderstood art scenes. Perhaps I’m most proud that we’ve cultivated irrefutable proof that Vancouver is home to a significant, diverse, and talented local art scene that is an intrinsic part of our city’s identity and everyday life.
Pre-COVID, VMF had become one of the largest public art celebrations in Canada. Our 2019 festival ran for ten days with more than 150,000 people in attendance at our annual street party. Facing the extreme and unprecedented challenges of 2020 head-on, we brought murals to more than 60 boarded-up businesses during lockdown and then expanded our festival program city-wide with 60 new murals across nine neighbourhoods in August. At the same time, we also launched our mobile app and presented three weeks of safe, live events and performances via the VMF Patio Series.
Create Vancouver Society, which is the nonprofit entity that puts on the Vancouver Mural Festival, pushes for progressive, innovative, collaborative and inclusive ideas of what public space and community celebration can look like. Our events showcase diverse curators, artists, performers, and organizations. This past year, we had the privilege of supporting a significant group of public works by local Black artists, including a historic mural on the side of the Georgia Viaduct in partnership with Hogan’s Alley Society and guest curator Krystal Paraboo. We were also honoured to partner with Vancouver Pride Society to produce new murals in the West End by artists from the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
We haven’t always gotten things right on our first try. And as much as we’ve grown over the past five years, through both our mistakes and our successes, we understand that there is always more learning to do. I feel fortunate to have been surrounded by such a caring team that has always been hungry to do and be better; eager to learn, adapt, and change; and who are continually driven by the sincere desire to positively impact our communities through culture and art. It has been an inspiration, daily, to bear witness to this work, and I know I’ll carry that with me for the rest of my career.
I would like to thank our Board of Directors as well as all the colleagues, friends, artists, sponsors, granters, clients, politicians, and government staff who have believed in and supported us over the years. I am infinitely grateful to our founding team — Adrian Sinclair, Drew Young, Gabriel Hall, and Andrea Curtis — all of whom remain with the organization. Andrea will step into the role of Interim Executive Director, and she is well-suited to spearhead the organization as it transitions into its next phase with her incomparable mix of operational prowess and passion for the work. Finally, a special thank you to my family, especially my wife, Ambrosia Vertesi, who has been both an invaluable member of our Board of Directors and an endless supporter of my commitment to art and our city.
To me, art is more than something confined to a gallery or formal show, where many members of the public feel out of place. Art permeates our lives, taking many forms and meaning different things to different people and communities. It sparks emotion, tells stories, preserves history, calls for social change, and much more. It teaches us about others and about ourselves. I believe the experiences VMF has created over the past five years have added something new to Vancouver’s artistic legacy and helped in some way to instill in all Vancouverites a sense of pride and possibility, in place of the cautious scepticism I was met with back when we began.
I send sincere thanks to you all for your enthusiasm, encouragement, and support over the past five years, and I look forward to what the next five will bring.
