Moving a Street Art Gallery in Austin

Since 2011 the HOPE Outdoor Gallery in Austin has offered permission walls for aspiring street artists. Hope stands for “Helping Other People Everywhere”. The site was a failed condo development which was converted into an outdoor gallery with the help of artist Shepard Fairy in 2011. It has become quite the tourist and Austin attraction. Fairey of course is best known for his OBEY stickers, and the controversy over his successfully lifted Obama HOPE poster.

Now though the park is moving to a new location on 6 acres outside of central Austin near the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The new site should still attract visitors and Instagram photo hunters, but will not be quite so centrally located North of bustling Lamar in the heart of Austin. That property is a valuable piece of land in Austin, and as one of the founders of the HOPE organization which manages the outdoor gallery Andi Scull Cheatham told the Austin Chronicle in 2016:

This project was meant to have a shelf life of a couple years, but once the owner saw how much it had been embraced and loved by the community, he’s done everything he can to keep it going.

The move was approved in February by the Austin Historical Landmark Commission. Part of the cement wall of the existing park will be moved to the new location, but the rest of the walls will be demolished. An amicable arrangement as compared to the 5Pointz dispute.

  1. Craig Hlavaty, Austin’s “Graffiti Park” to be demolished – Houston Chronicle, Houston Chronicle (Jan. 30, 2018), https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Austin-Graffiti-Park-to-be-demolished-Hope-Outdoor-12536309.php#photo-10133301.
  2. Nicole Raney, Downtown Austin’s iconic graffiti park searches for new home, Austin Culturemap (8.8.2016), http://austin.culturemap.com/news/arts/08-08-16-hope-outdoor-gallery-castle-hill-grafitti-new-location/?platform=hootsuite.
  3. Community bids fond farewell to HOPE Outdoor Gallery | Texas (Feb. 25, 2018), http://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/community-bids-fond-farewell-to-hope-outdoor-gallery_20180312075742473/1031502585.

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