As a visual artist (oil painter) and communications person (graphic designer), I’m having a problem with Northampton’s Ninja Turtle/manhole cover idea. Before we talk about the $20,000 (which is simply a crazy, unnecessary expense), let’s back up and talk about another obvious problem: it’s a manhole cover. On the ground. A metal thing that people walk on while they’re on their phones and eating their bagels.
Manhole covers can’t be seen from even a short distance until people step on them, and even then few people will stop and look more closely. My work is all about helping viewers access visual information, whether it be images or words. Manhole covers are not a communications tool. They’re are on the ground because they provide access to the underground. Simple, practical, but not for learning about turtle characters.
If you want your audience made aware of something, make it easier for them to see it. A useful location would be small, vertical plaques at eye level, on the side of a building or on a light pole for example. Designed properly (no I’m not offering my services) small, vertical, easily-seen plaques would make visitors want to find more information, like breadcrumbs (but not on the ground) around downtown. And obviously let’s not use any kind of taxpayer money for this.
Apply for a private grant. If you get it, you can make this a real communications project, a small vertical plaque for the Ninja Turtle folks, and then a few other plaques in other locations to honor … others. If you don’t succeed in getting a private grant, talk about the Ninjas and other inspiring Noho people on the Chamber of Commerce website, or some other online location that won’t cost $20,000. Why gamble with that kind of money hoping it will lead to other benefits for Noho residents? Doesn’t seem like a good wager to me. I have no skin in this game because I live in Hadley and work in Easthampton. I just hate to see communications efforts solve nothing, cost too much, and give creative people a bad name.
Patricia Czepiel Hayes
Hadley