August 5, 2024
Artists

Detroit City Council rejects payment to international artists for downtown murals


Detroit — A $215,000 contract to paint six murals in the city to help beautify downtown before this spring’s NFL draft is getting pushback from the Detroit City Council, who say they never approved the agreement but the murals have already been painted.

Detroit City Council members on Tuesday interrogated the city’s planning director on Tuesday for soliciting a contract for six murals without their approval and now that the work has been completed, the council is refusing to pay for it.

The nine-member council voted down a $215,000 contract for the exterior murals by the Street Art Mankind Corp. based out of Larchmont, New York, to pay for services already completed, despite the city’s top lawyer telling them the artists could sue for legal fees that could cost more.

A mural on the side of Hotel Indigo by German born artist Hera, at Michigan and Washington Blvd, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. Andy Morrison, The Detroit News

Planning Director Antoine Bryant apologized and said the company began work without approval from the city.

“And they continued to work after being told not to continue and then finished the work within a span of eight or nine days,” said Bryant.

The murals commissioned on privately owned “donated” downtown building exteriors were intended to be completed ahead of the NFL Draft in late April to uplift the city’s appearance and were initiated by the city with private stakeholders, Bryant said. However, the funding was being requested out of the city’s general fund after the work was completed.



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