The initiative for the petition comes from Gerben Hermanus, among others. He is a visual arts and talent development teacher at Artiance in Alkmaar. In the city he also organizes the graffiti and street art festival Crosstown Murals.
We meet Gerben with a number of students on the grounds of Hal25, where he gives workshops in the open air. “This is a closed area. If you, as a young person, want to make legal art in a public space, you have to take the train to Heerhugowaard or even Hoorn. There, ‘legal walls’ have been created at skate parks. That is also possible here.”
Hundreds of signatures have now been added to the petition. Gerben hopes to present them to the municipal council within two weeks.
The municipality of Alkmaar informed NH in a response that they are already investigating how they can further apply art in public spaces based on the Cultural Vision. “We take Mr Hermanus’ petition seriously and are happy to include it in our investigation.”