Pink Flamingo is back with an intergenerational mural project
In the spring of 2020, Pink Flamingo secured public funding for a Black Lives Matter mural project. But what started as an opportunity to tell important stories and make space for QTBIPOC artists in Calgary turned into violent racism and threats towards the organization.
The Black Lives Matter mural project was originally set to commence in the summer of 2020 with a mural painted on the side of the former Calgary Urban Project Society (CUPS) building downtown. The Black Lives Matter mural was to replace the 1995 mural, Giving Wings to the Dream by Doug Driediger. This became a point of contention among Calgary residents, and the alleged location-related concerns quickly morphed into hateful outbursts against the organization.
In an effort to protect the QTBIPOC community they serve, the Pink Flamingo team made the decision to postpone the project, stating “the city isn’t ready yet, but we are.”
Pink Flamingo postponed the public project and went forward with a private mural project in partnership with Jae Sterling and the SANSFUCCS collective. While the organization pivoted to a private project in a new location, that didn’t ensure their safety.
The team required a security guard at the mural site as they received countless threats of harm, people approaching the site, and even a drone being flown over the mural site. Rebel News also fed the racism against the organization and the artists by calling Mayor Nenshi out for “giving Black Lives Matter four different locations in the City of Calgary to deface and sour with their radical extremist propaganda.”
Sterling’s work, The Guide and Protector was unveiled in Chinatown in October 2020. Also unveiled was a fresh (for some) understanding of just how deep racism runs in this city, and just how hateful Calgary can be towards the QTBIPOC community.
“We had a lot of trauma last year, last summer especially, that we have all been kind of healing from,” says Allison Dunne, co-founder of Pink Flamingo.
Despite the violent racism experienced last year, Pink Flamingo has several new projects to unveil this year, including the re-launch of the Black Lives Matter mural project.
Pink Flamingo has put out two different requests for qualifications (RFQs) for a Black Youth mural and an Urban Indigenous Citizens mural.
The organization has also put out two requests for proposals (RFPs). One RFP is for a QTBIPOC mural, which will be located at the future home of National accessArts Centre/the former home of Scouts Canada. The second RFP is for a Black Elders mobile mural. The mobile mural will act as a unique, moving piece of art that can be enjoyed almost anywhere in the city.
“It's going to be two panels of either plywood or plastic, whatever the artist wants to work on, that basically can be arranged either side by side or stacked one on top of another,” says Colin Gallant, co-founder of Pink Flamingo. “And so we'll be able to move that around from place to place.”
The mobile mural will be weather-proofed in order to withstand the elements, and as a result, will be able to be enjoyed indoors or outdoors.
“We were really excited about that,” says Gallant. “Because of the questions that come up about sites in so many ways, including, ‘when is it okay for a mural to be painted over?’ Or ‘is it okay for a Black mural to be in Chinatown?’’’
On the subject of taking criticism for the upcoming mural project, Dunne suggests that negative comments come most strongly from the desire to be a part of the conversation.
“I think people are a little bit starved for [conversation] because of the pandemic, so they jump in on things that they don't have any stake in,” says Dunne. “They're not interested in protecting the artist or the art at all, but they are interested in the conversation.”
Dunne says those who had the most criticisms about The Guide and Protector mural have been silent since the project ended last fall.
“They don't actually care,” says Dunne. “And I think it's our duty to see that for what it is and just keep moving forward.”
Throughout the mural project, Pink Flamingo will be using their relationships to benefit Calgary’s arts community by bridging gaps in generations and art mediums.
“We have joined forces with THOTNATION, which is an amazing media crew out here,” says Dunne. “In collaboration with them and the CPO, we are producing some digital content, which is pairing an original piece by the CPO with the murals. So two very opposing styles of art, bringing them together, where they're at, and seeing what happens.”
The collaboration between the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO), THOTNATION, and Pink Flamingo will include an integration of classical and contemporary art.
“We’re going to be having the artists actually respond to the music in their murals,” says Dunne.
The CPO has committed to help fund the program, and will be contributing to the artists fees.
Pink Flamingo’s relationship with the CPO developed through anti-racism training. Pink Flamingo has been working with the CPO to help them create a more inclusive environment, which has resulted in this intergenerational and interdisciplinary project.
“We just thought that this collaboration would be a really cool step forward and also bringing more BIPOC folks into classical music, and then also for classical music to really lower their walls and be more receptive to other communities,” says Dunne. “I think it's gonna be a really cool experiment.”
Pink Flamingo’s relationships are at the centre of what they do. The organization has an ongoing partnership with Contemporary Calgary to create more space for BIPOC artists, and also works closely with Calgary Arts Development (CADA).
“To call [CADA] our champion would be like an understatement that misses an entire facet of our relationship,” says Katia Asomaning, director of operations at Pink Flamingo. “They've been nurturing to us as an organization in the same way that we hope to extend that nurturance to BIPOC artists. It's allowed for a really beautiful collaboration.”
“Their encouragement is probably like the seed of our ambitions,” says Dunne. “It’s really making us feel like we can really accomplish these things.”
CADA isn’t the only source of support Pink Flamingo has received.
“Heather Campbell is my mentor,” says Dunne. “She's a badass beyond belief. But she's really been the person that I go to advice for, especially when it comes to fundraising and stuff like that.”
Heather Campbell, co-chair of Alberta’s first Anti-Racism Advisory Council and Arts Commons board member (and countless other things), has been a source of wisdom as Pink Flamingo quickly expanded.
“We're all pretty new to this world,” says Dunne. “Like we were an events company, we were having a lot of fun... And then shit got real, real serious really fast. And we had to catch up to the way that we are being perceived.”
“Heather has been there since day one in a really pure way because she just genuinely loves the arts and loves Black people,” says Dunne. “And I feel like that's where we come from too, where we love the arts, and we love Black people, and we love Indigenous people. We love people of colour. Like that's just it, it's that simple. Like we really just love. And she really champions that and brings me back to that.”
While Pink Flamingo is receiving support within the arts community, there are still significant systemic changes that need to be made in order for organizations like this to thrive in Calgary. One of these changes is the granting process, which includes many biases around who you know and what your organizational structure is.
“They need to completely overhaul the granting system,” says Gallant. “Because it has been so difficult for us to get access to grants that we are perfectly qualified for, and are great candidates for.”
In addition to the upcoming mural project, Pink Flamingo is launching a podcast in partnership with CJSW this spring.
To learn more about Pink Flamingo and/or to donate to their efforts, visit PinkFlamingo.ca. To provide input on the mural project, click here.
The Black Lives Matter mural project is supported by The City of Calgary, Calgary Arts Development, artist Katie Green, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and Beltline Urban Murals Project.
Urban Indigenous Citizens Mural RFQ