Bansky collector falls out with YMCA over street art fest
Banksy collector George Shaw has fallen out with the Christchurch YMCA over the street art festival they ran together and has taken his collection to Tauranga.
The YMCA will still host a street art festival in Christchurch next year, but without Shaw or his large collection of original artworks by renowned British artist Banksy.
Shaw and the YMCA fell out over the use of a large space in the YMCA’s Hereford St headquarters. The YMCA installed a sprung floor, retractable seating, a lighting rig and heating in the space so it could be used as a community theatre when the street art show was not running.
But Shaw felt the changes would compromise his show because he would not able to paint the new floor or build installations in the modified space.
Shaw first organised a street art show around his collection of 22 Banksy artworks in Nelson in 2010, before staging the most visited show in Canterbury Museum history in 2013. The event then moved to the YMCA for shows in February and December 2015.
Shaw is now staging a street art festival in Tauranga from March to June next year.
YMCA Christchurch chief executive Josie Ogden Ogden Schroeder said they needed to be able to use the large space when the festival was not running to generate income and provide a community theatre.
‘‘The YMCA didn’t invest half a million dollars in the street art show for it to last two years. It was extremely disappointing for us.
‘‘We tried and we couldn’t find middle ground with George.
‘‘He was not prepared to share the space at the YMCA with other activities the rest of the year.
‘‘It wasn’t sustainable to constantly pour money into that without earning anything.’’
Shaw said he was ‘‘seriously sad’’ about the fall out, but said he was left with no option but to walk away from the YMCA partnership.
‘‘We couldn’t build anything or paint on the floor or anything so we realised that anything we produced in that space compared to what we have done before would be a massive let down for the public.
‘‘The last thing we wanted to do was produce a show where people would think it was a pale reflection of what we had done before.
‘‘We left because we had no choice. We could have kept taking the money and produced stuff that was nowhere near as good or we could look at if from a creative point of view and walk away from it.’’
Shaw said the Tauranga festival was arranged before the Christchurch partnership collapsed and had the blessing of the YMCA and Christchurch City Council.
‘‘I want to make it clear that what we are doing in Tauranga is something that was in the pipeline and agreed by all parties at that point in time.’’