A mural for Drysdale's arcade

Drysdale’s High Street arcade will receive a major makeover from the local community association.

The Drysdale, Clifton Springs, Curlewis Association (DCSCA) and its Festival of Glass sub-committee have received almost $11,000 from the federal government’s Stronger Communities Programme to design and create a glass mural for the arcade.

Entitled “Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow”, the mural will depict the past, present and possible futures of the northern Bellarine Peninsula, celebrating the local community to itself and to the area’s many visitors.

The DCSCA committee will invite local community, recreational and sporting groups to join in designing and creating twelve glass mosaic panels that will form the mural.

(Photo: DCSCA's Doug Carson and Rick Paradise prepare the arcade wall for the mural.)

Each mural panel will depict a theme or feature of the north Bellarine and will include a visual puzzle to encourage people to actively engage with it, not just admire it.

 

“We’re grateful to our local MP Richard Marles for supporting the arcade mural”, said DCSCA Secretary Patrick Hughes. “The mural will showcase the work of local glass artists and we hope that it will introduce community members to the art and skill of glass mosaic while bringing them together in a shared project.”

The arcade’s owners and tenants are enthusiastic supporters of the project, recognising that the mural will make the arcade a brighter, safer and more inviting space, benefiting businesses within it and pedestrians passing through it.

DCSCA expects to complete the arcade mural by April 2019. It will be a further boost to the area's reputation as a centre of glass art, joining DCSCA's earlier Welcome to Drysdale glass mural on Drysdale’s ‘Village Green’, its annual Festival of Glass (now 9 years old) and its glass art mentorship programme.

The Stronger Communities Programme

The Stronger Communities Programme provides $150,000 to each federal electorate to fund small capital projects that improve community participation. Each Federal MP identifies appropriate projects and invites their authors to apply to the Programme for a grant. Up to 20 projects in each electorate will each receive $2,500 to $20,000.