The village council has awarded the contract for the first mural project in the village.

鈥淐ouncil awarded Lakes Artisan Cooperative the winner of the mural project for the Red Apple wall. Steve Wilejto is our executive artist and his design was chosen. That鈥檚 all we know so far,鈥� said Beate Marquardt, one of the founding members and artisans of the cooperative.

In an April council meeting, the village zeroed in on two locations for the mural project鈥� the first would be to replace the current mural next to Red Apple and the other would be a new mural on the Lakes Artisan Centre building, both located on Hwy. 16.

鈥淲e are very excited to incorporate our community鈥檚 branding initiative into this mural project,鈥� said Worthing, adding that the proponents were asked to propose any theme that included any of the following themes鈥攍and of opportunity, tight-kinit community, healthy outdoor living and hub for creativity.

Additional details on what Wilejto鈥檚 design will be and who the other mural projects have been awarded to, are yet to be released by the village.

Last year, the Lakes Artisan Centre cooperative completed 10 years at their current location. They however requested the village for a rent reduction as it became increasingly difficulty to cover their overhead expenses including the rent, the electricity, interac charges and other miscellaneous charges to keep their doors open. The village in turn had proposed alternatives of which one was to potentially do the commissioned mural work.

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鈥淭he Lakes Artisan Cooperative will be paid for administrative costs like writing the proposal, meeting with artists, jurying and changing the design, costing all the works and materials etc.,鈥� said Marquardt. This money will help the cooperative with approximately six months of rent.

The artisan centre also has a new member this year taking the total to eight members and one associate. The cooperative members will now be meeting with the village staff to work out the details of the upcoming mural project.

This project, part of the BC Rural Divided Grant, was delayed due to COVID and is finally set to be completed by Sept. 1 of this year.

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Priyanka Ketkar
Multimedia journalist

priyanka.ketkar@ldnews.net

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