Street art excels in the district

There are calls for youngsters to be given street art lessons as the district’s policy to encourage it was on the agenda of a recent meeting.

And one councillor argued South Holland District Council could even make money on them by selling electronic NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).
It’s a year since the authority launched its Street Art policy and the Performance Monitoring Panel which met last week was told it had been a success.
Among designs highlighted as having been a success were those at the Spalding Skate Park, off Holbeach Road.
Coun Rob Gibson, who has been working with local artists, said the skill and work that’s being created in the district was respected by people in the area meaning the works were remaining in place.
“There’s been a little bit of tagging nothing excessive,” he said. “On the whole the youth are quite respectful and understand what we do.
“There’s some bad apples, but I think there’s real respect for our street art. I can’t say I’ve seen any bad comments of what’s been done. Everybody’s on board with our local street artist.
“You see it and wonder how they do it. It’s really skilful. I’d like more street art in South Holland and they’re willing to show youngsters how to do it and what it is.
“I’d love to see more of that.”
The meeting was told council officers were looking at more possible locations for the art while Coun Gibson urged sessions be put on so the artists could pass on their skills to others.
A council officer said that the authority was working with various organisations including Transported Arts.
Coun and teacher Sam Chauhan brought up the subject of NFTs.
“Art can be tokenised, put on block chains and bring in a revenue for the council.
“Artwork is going in that direction where something like this design is put on a blockchain (an online record of who has invested in the work) and anyone can invest into it.
“The person who owned that artwork could be the local authority.
“People who like the artwork can put money into it and have some kind of ownership.
“A lot of people grew-up here and they could say, I want a little ownership of where I live and they add value by putting their money into the work.
“Everyone gets an opportunity to own where they live and I think that’s a good thing.”