The Kapunda community’s calls have been answered after receiving State Government funding to commence their silo art project.
Tony Piccolo MP delivered the news to the Kapunda Mural Town committee recently, hand-delivering the Premier’s letter promising $30,000 in funding.
Mr Piccolo was pleased to be able to play a part in securing the funding, but credited the committee, the Light Regional Council and the community for their enthusiasm and support for the project.
“The committee worked with Council staff and put a lot of research into their proposal, and with the amount of money the community had already placed into trying to make this dream a reality, it was hard for State Government to knock back,” said Mr Piccolo.
“With the amount of community consultation and input locals have been providing, the artwork is sure to capture the essence of this town as Kapun-da’s creative side continues to be showcased throughout the town with new artworks and projects.
“Once completed, the silo art will be another tourist attraction to the region and boost the local economy and our businesses.”
The Kapunda Mural Town committee first put the idea to locals last Septem-ber after receiving numerous suggestions to create a mural on the silos.
Following overwhelming positive feedback, the committee put the wheels in motion and have raised more than $25,000 in community funding and prom-ised an additional $40,000 from Light Regional Council.
Light Regional Council Councillor Deane Rohrlach helped start the committee back in 2016 after visiting Sheffield, Tasmania - a town of similar size and population to Kapunda – and seeing how they embraced local artists with mu-rals throughout the town.
Cr Rohrlach said the funding “gives us the confidence to commence this Silo Art Project.”
“This is an excellent example of State Government, Local Government and community working together for a worthwhile cause.
“I thank Tony Piccolo MP for his part in securing the government funding.”
Fellow committee member Danny Menzel said the plan now is to complete the silo mural in time for the National Small Town Reinvention Conference coming to town in September.
“We were facing a tight schedule trying organise and raise the funds to get this done in September as people told us it usually takes two years, so to ba-sically get it done in six months is amazing and couldn’t be any more stocked,” said Mr Menzel.
“We’ve had about 14 murals painted along the main street, with a couple win-ning national awards, so we claim ourselves to be a mural town and it’s at-tracting a lot of tourists coming through.
“With a project like this, the art has to be world-class because it’s going to be up there for a long time for people to see, and we consider the artist we’re get-ting (Sam “Smug” Bates) to be the best in the world.
Smug is an Australian artist based in Glasgow who has produced work global-ly, including silo artwork in Wirrabara and more recently Lameroo.
To see the latest updates and mock-ups of the potential silo artwork that could be on display, visit the Kapunda, Mural Town SA Facebook page.
While the money is there to commence the project, the Kapunda community still less than $20,000 away from reaching their $40,000 goal and covering the project cost.
There has already been a number of generous donations from many local res-idents, community groups and businesses, and you can help, too, by donating at Kapunda Silo Art Go Fund Me page.