Given the various benefits and high return on investment street art provides to business, schools, neighborhoods, and cities, a movement of using street art as a tool to create safer, brighter, more colorful and inspiring communities has also been recognized. Organizations like Beautify Earth have pioneered cities to leverage these benefits to create widespread beauty where it would be otherwise empty or dilapidated public wall space.
North America
New York City attracts artists from around the world. In Manhattan, "post-graffiti" street art grew in the 1980s from the then largely vacant neighborhoods of SoHo and the Lower East Side. The Chelsea art district became another locale, with area galleries also hosting formal exhibitions of street artist's work. In Brooklyn, the Williamsburg and Dumbo neighborhoods — especially near the waterfront — are recognized street art sites.
"Chicago has many forms of street art emerging but some of the most popular artist that can be seen everywhere in Chicago is Sentrock, Jc Rivera (The Bear Champ), and Hebru Brantley."
Programs in the Pennsylvania cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh provide funding to agencies who employ street artists to decorate city walls. The Mural Arts Program established in 1984 has helped Philadelphia earn praise as the "City of Murals".
The project was initiated to encourage graffiti artists toward a more constructive use of their talents.
Street Art in Manhattan, New York City
San Francisco's Mission District has densely packed street art along Mission Street, and along both Clarion and Balmy Alleys. Streets of Hayes Valley, SoMa, Bayview-Hunters Point and the Tenderloin have also become known for street art.
Richmond, Virginia has over 100 murals created by artists. Some of the murals are privately commissioned by individuals and businesses, some are created by solo street artists, and some are collaborative group fund-raising projects.
"Calgary (Canada) While historically having a smaller graffiti street art scene, the city recently started the Beltline Urban Mural Project (BUMP) with artist from all over the world creating large murals in the city centre."
Montreal (Canada) With over 80 murals and counting since the foundation of MURAL Festival in 2013, the annual street art festival contributed in creating Le Plateau-Mont-Royal as an epicentre for urban arts.
Villeray, Downtown Montreal Le Sud-Ouest, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, and multiple art districts also continue to broaden the street art circuit within the Island of Montreal.
Denver street artists have been busy brightening (and enlightening) the urban landscape for decades by making canvases of the city's alleyways, building exteriors, warehouses, garage doors and storefronts.
The city of Denver has a whole area called the River North Art District (RiNo) that is dedicated to the work of local creative artists. Most artists in the RiNo district are commissioned by the local business owners who want to give their buildings colorful imagery.
March 01, 2020 • 432 Likes • 5.2K Views
