EDITORIAL: Pow! Wow! A punch to the gut

(Editor's Note: The following is the editorial appearing in this week's Worcester Magazine print edition. It is being published in advance because of the scheduled discussion at Tuesday night's Council meeting about Pow! Wow! Worcester)

There's never a bad time to ask questions – unless what you're asking questions about already happened, right? Not so, according to At-Large City Councilor Konnie Lukes, who has a lengthy order on the City Council agenda this week asking for a variety of information about the recently-completed Pow! Wow! Worcester mural festival.

Among other things, Lukes wants to know about the process of selecting the artists that participated, how they were selected, why more local artists did not participate, what payments were made to the artists, etc.

Lukes appears to be taking direct aim at an event that, at first blush, appeared to have been an overwhelming success. She says that is not the case, that her order was meant to start a discussion.

Discussions are good. Questions can be good. In fact, Worcester Magazine reached out to one of the individuals involved with Pow! Wow! Worcester and asked each question Lukes raised in her order. Jessica Walsh was able to answer pretty much all of them, if directing the magazine to one of her festival partners, Che Anderson at City Hall, for some clarification.

Bottom line: Lukes could have gotten answers to her questions without standing under the lights and in front of the cameras.

It is worth noting councilors had to approve easements for each of the properties used for the murals before the event was held. Guess who voted in favor without asking questions?

Asked why she did not raise any questions at that time, if she wanted to foster a discussion about art, Lukes replied, “That's a good question.”

Trying to address each of Lukes' questions, here are some facts as derived straight from Walsh, a committee member.

Fact: The funding sources for the festival were private, with no city money, mostly in the form of grants and in-kind donations.

Fact: The process went through Pow! Wow! Worldwide, with Anderson dealing with that organization's representative, Jasper Wong. Artists were picked based on whose work was deemed a good fit for the scope of the project. A group of folks, on their own dime, flew to Hawaii at one point to pursue the mural concept.

Fact: Artists came from the U.S., Nepal, Germany, Spain, Berlin and Mexico, perhaps others.

Fact: The artists did not receive payment for their work, and knew that beforehand. They were provided airfare, food, accommodations and materials.

What is not widely known is some of these artists scored paying gigs because of their participation in the festival. One was commissioned by a local property owner to paint his building walls. Others, according to Walsh, were able to take on paying jobs in Boston because they were in Worcester.

Fact: While no local artists were used for the large-scale projects during the festival, some were used on other, smaller projects. The hope next year is to have a pool of local artists ready to take on work on the level of that done with Pow! Wow! Worcester.

Fact: Outreach was done to promote the heck out of this festival. If you didn't know what and how this was all coming together, you simply were not trying. Worcester Magazine sponsored the event, and wrote several stories leading right up to the festival – and after. 

The committee also held a study hall for the public to ask questions before the festival. In addition, social media was used mightily to raise pubic awareness.

Fact: The murals will remain in place at least five years and will be maintained by Pow!Wow! Worcester. At that time, a decision will be made as to whether to keep the mural in place or whitewash it and start from scratch.

Those are some, if not all, of the questions raised by Lukes, who, it is worth saying, has a valid point in wanting a discussion about public art. It is not the first time she has raised such a concept. Few would argue with the need to talk about the city's overall vision for the arts community.

However, the complaints, insults and bellyaching coming out of Pow! Wow! Worcester seem little more than sour grapes. Consider this: Pow! Wow! Worldwide's Instagram account had in excess of three million impressions on the festival. Three million. Of an event in Worcester. How, pray tell, is that a negative? How is anything that happened during that entire week, where connections were made, friendships forged, and yes paying jobs earned, a negative?

If we've learned anything in Worcester it's that there are always enough people willing to try their best to find the negative in even the brightest of positives. That is a crying shame.