Not-for-profit public art initiative Banna Lane Festival has been approved for 2022 thanks to funding from Create NSW and support from Grifith City Council.
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The event focuses on curating large-scale murals in Banna Lane in the Griffith CBD.
Festival creator and manager, Carrah Lymer said she was absolutely thrilled with the announcement the festival had secured $90,000 from the first round of Create NSW's 21/22 Arts and Cultural Funding Program.
She was given the heads up just two days latter that Griffith City Council had agreed to provide $20,000 to support the festival for the third year in a row.
"It means we can continue to grow in all areas of our festival from the free community event 'Lighting up the Lane', to our youth workshops and school tours, and of course the development of the murals," Ms Lymer said.
The council's contribution would be used exclusively to pay for the contributing artists.
"It is a significant contribution so we wanted to ensure it went towards creating a piece of public artwork that the whole community and visitors to the city can enjoy all year round."
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The festival had humble beginnings though and for the initial two years it relied completely on sponsorships, discounted or free materials, and services from local businesses.
"Without that support we would not have had a year one, let alone a year two.
"I will be forever grateful for that help we received in getting us on our feet," she said.
Ms Lymer said the additional funding would go into facilitating greater community engagement and making the festival, "bigger and better than before".
The 2022 festival has already received around 50 artist applications from domestic and international artists reaching out wanting to paint at the festival.
"It's pretty amazing that artists all over the world know about our small regional arts festival and have taken the time to apply".
The festival is calling for businesses that back onto Banna Lane to reach out and apply to have their walls painted with an incredible mural for a small fee.
"I have some great walls this year but I would like a couple more to ensure we have a good spread of murals throughout the long laneway.
"Your building could become 'insta famous' like the other walls," Ms Lymer said.
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