Urban IMG has been attempting to influence the governmental decisions relating to legalizing street art by providing more available legal spaces to street artists.
As a lobbyist my main goal is to achieve just that. In attempts to make our dreams happen I have already sat down with some spokesmen for the local government and several real-estate owners. Seeing how they are for the most part solely responsible for the available space, we considered that it was best to contact them and try to persuade them of our views. Of course the journey of Urban IMG has not been without its obstacles and we still have a long way to go.
The issue I have noticed most when negotiating, is the varied views on street art. Some see it as an expressional art that is capable of brightening our town. Others see it as plain vandalism and basically see nothing positive about the whole issue. Lobbying towards the government and the real-estate owners asked for a different approach, considering the fact that both their views differed significantly from each other. In order to trigger the interest of the governmental institutions, it was important to emphasize on the fact how legal spots would possibly lower vandalism and turn street art into a legal renovating act sort of speak.
This was slightly different though whilst lobbying with the real-estate owners. It was quite hard to persuade them into putting their buildings accessible to our projects. They often prone the question as to ‘why?’ and ‘how would it benefit us?’. These questions could only be answered by emphasizing on the possibilities of street art, mostly in terms of promotion and image. Street artists can do much more for a building and even a company than one might imagine. They are able to brighten up a town and turn it into an urban sight seeing in just a matter of time, not to mention the fact that their crafts and talents can also be easily adapted into a marketing campaign. Of course I have not been able to persuade every institution necessary, but Urban IMG has been able to provide some alternative insights to those who can make a definite change in this issue. We will continue to do this and hopefully the image of street artists will no longer be that of a jobless vandal, but that of an important artist within society.
Hope you enjoyed this insight from a true lobbyist!
– Suzanne Alblas
Urban IMG 