Kingston Creative to shift focus to infrastructure plan for Water Lane
NOW THAT most of the formerly bland walls along Water Lane in downtown Kingston have been revived with 105 murals at a cost of approximately $60 million, Kingston Creative — the drivers behind this project — will start focusing on bringing economic value by opening comfort stores along the stretch.
The vision may have taken seven years, but Andrea Dempster, co-founder and managing director of Kingston Creative, is happy that to date, covering from East Street to Orange Street in downtown Kingston is nearly complete.
On Thursday, during its Paint the City IV mural launch on location, in collaboration with their donors – the Tourism Enhancement Fund and Sherwin-Williams Jamaica – the final phase of the momentous Paint the City project, which completes the street gallery along Water Lane from the Institute of Jamaica to the National Gallery of Jamaica, was unveiled.
Dempster told The Gleaner that it is now time for Kingston Creative to paint another vision of the future for Water Lane .
“Many people think that when we are celebrating the completion of the project, that means there will be no more murals. That’s not the case. What we now move on to is improving Water Lane. The plan was never just to paint pictures on the walls. We have to have seating. We have to have shade. We have to have garbage bins. We have to have a maintenance plan. We need security, so there’s a whole management plan, and a governance and an infrastructure plan that we now get to focus on,” Dempster said.
“So with the completion of 105 murals, and this last series of 13 murals in Water Lane, we now shift our focus from the images on the wall, as beautiful as they are, to having more cafés in the lane. For example, we will be encouraging other businesses to open in the lane. We will encourage more festivals to be hosted in that space, and we’ll be looking at the very practical elements that people need to be able to stay,” she said.
She said Kingston Creatives is open to doing murals for other businesses or persons who would like to beautify a space with colour and creativity.
CREATIVE PLACEMAKING
‘One Downtown’ is the theme of the latest series of 13 new murals located between King and Orange streets on Water Lane, and represents a call for peace and unity.
The new block of street art includes vibrant work from 12 artists– Pamella Chang, Lennox Coke, Dwayne Grant, Jordan Harrison, Kamaal Manboard, Delroy Millwood, Nakeha Shepherd, Deon Simone, Anthony ‘Taoszen’ Smith, Paige Taylor, Keddan Savage and Rupert Tomlinson. Most muralists hail from the city of Kingston and are excited to be a part of the transformation taking place. They took their interpretation of One Downtown to the walls along Water Lane.
The goal of Kingston Creative’s Paint the City project is to create an art district to increase the economic, cultural and social viability of the communities in and around downtown. The centrepiece of the Downtown Kingston Art District is a pedestrianised public art walkway on Water Lane, which connects two of Jamaica’s pre-eminent cultural anchor institutions which fall under the Institute of Jamaica; namely, the National Museum on East Street, and the National Gallery of Jamaica (NGJ) on Orange Street.
“It means a lot to see the ideas move from paper to reality and to actually witness the artists’ vision coming to life,” Dan Thompson, Kingston Creative’s art district project manager, said.
“Inclusion is an i mportant element i n the project, and we always work closely with artists from the community, like Christopher Scobey, David Harvey, Delmar Robinson, Dwight Hinkson, Fabian White and Wayne Davis. We plan the project with the residents and business owners, too. One example is Harris McLean, a carpenter, resident in Water Lane for over 25 years, who has been very instrumental in the project, and an inspiration to the artists, too.”
The One Downtown concept is dedicated to reshaping the perception of this area of the city, encouraging unity of mind, thought and vision among downtown Kingston communities. The movement goes well beyond murals to delivering training and income-earning opportunities in several communities, working with the Development Bank of Jamaica and the Planning Institute of Jamaica. Kingston Creative is seeking to use Jamaican culture as a catalyst to unite people around a common vision of a revitalised and safe downtown Kingston, where people will want to live, work and enjoy the culture.
The establishment of a cultural tourism destination with this cluster of murals in Water Lane is an example of creative placemaking, using public art as an agent for change. Both the residents of the downtown area and those from other parts of Kingston have expressed not only an increased sense of security, but a renewed vision of hope for the city’s future.