Big Thank You to Elinor Diamond for withdrawing her image of Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP) and Community Thrift and replacing it with a new one!
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Big Thank You to Elinor Diamond for withdrawing her image of Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP) and Community Thrift and replacing it with a new one!
It's truly unfortunate that Mission Local put her in this position to begin with - knowing that three of the artists (myself, Rigo 23, and Jet Martinez) who are core organizers of Clarion Alley Mural Project (and Jet painted the Community Thrift facade) were so strongly against the contest and its underlying implications with regard to creating a divisive corporate transit system. It would have been more responsible on ML's part to at least let Elinor know the position of the artists and that her design was selected for its concept, therefore another image would also be acceptable. While I don't support these private shuttles and the class caste system they create, I do appreciate Elinor's decision to provide a new image.
And I want to respond to Lydia's point in this article that the image of the bus was up for two months and no one called it out until it was announced as the winner - Lydia, that's because we weren't reading your publication or following the contest ... until it was brought to our attention.
Also there has been a lot of discussion around copyright with regard to this particular incident. I want to clarify that CAMP has never suggested copyright infringement or that we would take legal action in this case. However, we do register our murals with the U.S. Copyright Office, we do have an attorney, and we do take action when we feel a case has the merit to do so.
Finally, as I’ve previously noted, the issue in this case is one of respect. CAMP’s artists have collectively donated tens of thousands of hours of volunteer time over the past 21 years – it’s truly been a labor of love. We do pay our artists a small stipend for materials when we can, but it in no way matches the amount of time and energy that folks give. The project did not start as a magnet for tourists or as an icon for San Francisco; it began as a project to build community with the neighbors on the alley and to help showcase the works of local artists. We do love sharing our work with folks and we have many great encounters with locals and visitors daily. We are always happy to share our work - it's FREE - but we have drawn the line for commercial purposes ... PLEASE contact us for written permission ... and if we do agree, please give the artists and CAMP credit. One of the things that has made Clarion Alley a unique space is that we've been going strong with integrity for over 21 years as a volunteer-run space without commercial ties. The few times that we have agreed to allow commercial projects to film on the alley, we've gone through a long process of ensuring compensation and credit to the artists & CAMP. And if we say “NO” please RESPECT our wishes.