Graffiti Park Radio! 🎨🎧 Where creativity knows no bounds.
Listen to Graffiti Park Radio were we’ll tap in with artists, our proud partners, and community stakeholders who believe in empowering the next generation of art visionaries and the valuable teaching moments that come from living, breathing art.
Announcer 0:00
This is a k u and v studios original program.
Wesley Knight 0:03
The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Ladies
Anika Jones 0:15
and gentlemen, welcome to the vibrant world of graffiti Park radio. where creativity knows no bound will tap in with artists, educators are proud partners and community stakeholders who believe in empowering the next generation of visionaries. Beyond the hidden alleyways, abandoned warehouses, and local city transits where artists are known to leave their mark graffiti Park Foundation has redefined and reimagined the persona the street Museum. In this episode, we'll sit down with co founders of graffiti Park Daniel bolc ads, and Daniel Maloney will discuss the inception of greedy feet, graffiti Park, and the forthcoming projects and goals for the foundation. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Monique Jones. And these are our co founders. The dance I'd like to call them. How are you doing, guys? Hello, hello.
Unknown Speaker 1:04
Good. How are you?
Anika Jones 1:06
You know what I'm happy to be here. And I'm happy to share the platform with you. Tell us a little bit about yourselves. Tell us about graffiti Park? How did this all come about? How are you enlightening our community? When is this getting started?
Dan Bulgatz 1:20
Started by to Las Vegas locals named Dan. Yeah, Dan Maloney and myself Dan Boyle GATS we met actually here on UNLV campus as we record it, K u and v 91.5. And it's so special to be here. It's it just feels like just like old times parking in the student union and where we probably shouldn't be and then kind of talking about an idea of graffiti Park in this inception. And having a place where all people feel like they could come and join and be themselves and leave a mark on a city unlike any other. And so it was kind of founded Dan can kind of jump in with me here. But when I got back in 2015, at the end of it started 2016 After being to the hope outdoor gallery in Austin, Texas. And so essentially, there was this dilapidated three storey building that was kind of a central hub for graffiti. And I thought it was just the coolest thing I came back, I was telling Dan after him and I have a good amount of artists friends with us or in our repertoire. And we were just like this would be the coolest thing to do but in like a Las Vegas fashion like the Las Vegas a fight. And so while we were kind of working, or while we were working on our degrees at UNLV, working to graduate and get into the real world, I was telling Dan, I was there, this is the time. There's no other time when we're going to be younger than this with no excuses with nothing in the way. And there may be things in the way now. But they're they're not going to be there forever. And so he graduated a year before me and kind of to that point. Now, five years into this is from from the our inception, I guess in April 2020 of when we decided to open up our doors officially. And we've kind of started after that. And five years later here we are back at UNLV to talk about it with you, which is so exciting and
Anika Jones 3:12
incredible story incredible story. I know that now 3d Park isn't just doing murals around the community and working in that capacity. Now you're working as a foundation. Tell us a little bit more about the foundation and what you're doing in the nonprofit. Yeah,
Dan Moloney 3:27
I think a big portion of that origin story that Dan got into was just the sheer like passion and desire, especially coming back from that trip him telling me all about it. We're just like sitting there with some buddies. And I'm like, this sounds like something we should try to create or, or, or try to do capacity, we can organically replicate and, and try to provide a platform for artists out here or at least a space outside of just like hope in the restaurant order owner downtown, the arts district doesn't get set off that you're in his alleyway, but and so that's really kind of the origin and then through that navigating, I think Dan got into it a little bit. I graduated in 2018 him a year later and kind of kicking the can down the road. And we had these spiral bound business plans that we were editing back and forth. I'm getting my buddies to look at it, which is cool down in hindsight to have them all. And so then that that's really where we fell into the mural curation piece. We wanted to create that space, but then we recognize Okay, especially given the the world events going on in March of 2020 was the the antithesis of bringing people together to do things right. So we're like, Okay, well, let's go find these spaces elsewhere. And so through some awesome collaborations and some really invaluable support by some mentors of both of us and just kind of leading us down the right path. We got connected to some local YMCAs out here that provided us to first projects were kind of our dreamer Lab, which is YMCA is version of putting together a tackle Have to get kids up to speed with radio Recording, Music recording, and the like. And so that was really our first step. And that's when we got to connect artists to canvases for the first time and some light bulbs went off of like, there's gotta be other places that are looking for artwork. And so along that process in partnering with the Clark County School District, Boys and Girls Clubs YMCA is these kind of Municipality nonprofit type organizations, we recognize that there's a pretty apparent skills gap between your average graffiti artist and what these municipalities or the city or any client would expect from an artist and being like, you know, coming up with a budget coming up with some of these guys don't even have Microsoft Word downloaded on right. And so it's like, okay, how can I fill out these 1000 word applications describing how my art and putting together a portfolio if I grew up painting on the side of trains and things like that, I'm wicked talented, but I don't know how to enter in this market. So that's really when we recognize Okay, pretty quickly into this about six months to a year in, we're like, okay, we, there has to be, aside from curating murals and getting to that end goal of creating that space, which I'm sure we'll get into was like, how do we create some sort of nonprofit organization that can supplement this development gap that no one's really given these artists an opportunity to do? So that's, that's how graffiti Park Foundation. That's our little brainchild there to deliver the arts education and mural projects and things of that nature.
Anika Jones 6:33
And grant well, that that's amazing to hear. I know you kind of got into it with your trip to Austin, but what initially just drew you to art and just knowing that Las Vegas needed this piece, like, what was that one thing for you?
Dan Bulgatz 6:44
Yeah, I mean, Dan and I, we were both very heavily involved with the arts kind of growing up both products of the Nevada school system, shout out GSD yesterday, I think all of us are, and it's so cool to kind of think about is my brother in law. He's owns a tattoo parlor here in Las Vegas collective tattoo parlor. And he was just always so involved in art and his, like, they went through and they painted his entire apartment while I was really, really young. And I remember that pretty vividly. As you know, I was the pallbearer and their wedding and kind of you know, early start in so when I met Mrs. Nika Jones here, and kind of through that I was just constantly involved in it through ceramics classes, digital art classes, Student Council, where you're in charge for making these big signs or doing the hallways for student council and for homecoming, and those kinds of things. And then Dan, I'm sure has a story that he'd love to tell about kind of how he got involved in the graffiti art scene and those kinds of things. And when we just started talking about it, it was like a lightbulb, like it just gone off. Like we were just both so passionate about it about just wearing your emotions on your sleeve, and especially talking about where we've grown up from and kind of looking at it not only as a project that both him and I are working on, but a project of the Las Vegas City, which I think is really cool to think about as well. And so roundabout way of saying how did we get involved in art we neither of us were we were both at UNLV for different things. And this was just kind of a passion project that is now taken off in ways that we just couldn't imagine.
Anika Jones 8:14
I mean, what better way to show your passion than to invest in this community. You know, that's like really a huge piece. And I love that you integrated just what you saw as a kid growing up and creating that image that's like a thing as, as local Las Vegas students and local Las Vegas, sometimes we are trying to pull away from the image associated to the town, but to be able to highlight the things that we love about our city, why we're here, why our families are here, what they've contributed to the community. That's huge. And you could definitely do that through art. And we've seen that you guys have done that already. So speaking of that, what are some things you guys got going on? Or we have going on, I want to first let you guys know that I am Director of Development for the graffiti Park Foundation. And I'm absolutely proud to do so. These guys have been just unbelievable. On both sides of this. I've been able to witness their work specifically with the school district and the school that I work with done amazing work, not just making the school look right in the school beautification piece, but really bringing the community together you have no idea how many parents we have had come in, I'm even emotional. Now. We have parents come in that said, hey, my grandparents went here. We went here. My kid goes here now. And now we have something that's a long legacy. So I love that you're bestowing that legacy upon the city and that I get to be a part of something like that. So that's really great. But what other things do you have going on? What other graffiti Park interests should we know about coming up this summer?
Dan Moloney 9:38
There is quite a handful going on right now. So the fun fun fact about us is our biggest partner and collaborator since our inception has been the Clark County School District we've
Dan Bulgatz 9:50
I think we're not something you think about when you hear a graffiti part, right? Yeah. When
Dan Moloney 9:54
you think of graffiti art and the stereotype that goes along with that you don't really think kindergarten Hall all the way and the letters that go there. But fortunately, we found our way in those hallways. And so that said, we've painted over 50 schools in the last four years and more incoming and so there's no students in those hallways right now. And so the principals are pretty motivated to get that artwork done. So our our summer schedule is pretty packed. We we've had eight projects here in June alone, and our entire summers booked out and at all these different schools, high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, along with some other partners scattered throughout there as well. Being city in North Las Vegas, the city Henderson, so really busy. And like always say busy is good. So we're on on par and on track to take care of a lot of artists this summer in terms of giving them the resources materials, they need to some time some of them painting their first commission piece to others, they're first with us and so hopefully, creating some awesome partnerships there. So that's kind of graffiti Park side of things. As far as the nonprofit though, really exciting stuff. Obviously, we were able to bring on Mr. Nika Jones here this we've been able to bring her on this year. And that's been an awesome help and really ramp up our operations there from a fundraising and grant requests and operations type of thing. And then outside of that we're looking to we're really excited this fall, we'll be rolling out a new program, in partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs out here. So Boys and Girls Club, I think most most of us are familiar, they do a lot of great for the community and the kids that interact with those different clubs. Unfortunately, they don't have a whole lot of art programming, a lot of their programming is focused towards workforce development and sports and things like that. And so we're really, really excited to be coming in and, and helping kind of handle that for them. And so that's, that's really exciting. This fall, we'll be rolling out an eight week program with all three of their regions. So every teen at a Boys and Girls Club here in the fall, or in Southern Nevada, will be able to attend our mural magic Workforce Development kind of program where we teach these teens how to do a mural from start to finish using tools on procreate and an iPad, all the way to coming up with mockups, working with clients communication, building a team and all that good stuff. So we're really excited. It's gonna be kind of our flagship program this year. And outside of that, we're just trying to build some different partnerships and find where we can supplement the art programming.
Anika Jones 12:36
That sounds incredible. I lost my voice a little bit over here. I hope we didn't catch that on air. But other than that, I hear these amazing things that you're doing the community what you've already done, of course, your plans with the foundation. But what is your ultimate goal in regards to graffiti Park Foundation and what what precedents you want to set here in the community in regards to what you're doing with art.
Dan Moloney 13:00
The ultimate goal is to realize that original vision, and that is to create an art hub, the graffiti Park, whether that's in wherever that is best fitted in the in the city itself, whether that's the arts district downtown, the historic West Side, wherever we feel like we can come into a community and make it better and, and be awesome partners. That really that creative hub where artists can come and paint the walls are free, you can get the paint that you need to paint, you don't have to worry about it, we're going to have lighting, we're going to have other artists there to mentor you, there's going to be studio rental opportunities for you to showcase your art. And when we say art, we're very open ended. That's not just graffiti art and street art, if there's going to be canvases that you can come and interact with digital art, there'll be kind of an iPad computer lab center where you can do digital art and graphic design. Hopefully, the intent there is hopefully have like a tattoo studio kind of a test kitchen. So you know, cooking is its own art form, right. And so the idea is really to just have this culture hub, where it's an artistic community where people can come and express themselves learn from other people in the community. And our whole mantra is collaboration over competition. And that's what would be rooted in, in the hub itself. And so graffiti Park, that's the long term goal, and then that will obviously make everything else we've talked about all that much easier a place to offer that programming a place for artists to come together.
Anika Jones 14:23
So you're absolutely right. The programming piece I think is huge. It's integrating everything you guys were talking about, into our students daily lives. That is exactly what we hope to put into our curriculum is an art piece that really engages the students really brings out their talents really influences them to be and do whatever they want to do. So being able to be a part of that in a school district that quite honestly we have suffered by not having these programs so be able being able to provide that need for our community is huge. And being able to provide you know, the possibility for workforce development with this program is huge. Exactly,
Dan Bulgatz 15:00
showing them that you can be a full time creative that there is that opportunity to express yourself daily and not only express yourself in the way that you do your art, but also interact with other clients that can feel some sort of motivation or excitement or newfound newness I guess in their in their newfound newness, that's fine. But I got it yeah, to essentially feel is that their their space has been seen that it's been moved in a way that is much better, and that it makes people excited to be around or to be a part of. And so we've noticed some great success, as Dan mentioned, in almost over 50 different schools, multiple different projects at some of these schools. And we've been really able to transform over 300,000 square feet of art space, in schools across the district.
Anika Jones 15:52
Wow. Wow. So you've really changed landscape, and actually created your own canvas within our community. And that's huge. We want to continue doing that for sure.
Dan Moloney 16:02
Yeah, the like phrasing we like to use is, you know, we thought of this like, problem, we want to address this division, we want to realize, and we recognize we had to build a community and kind of a proof of concept of need behind it before we just go get a plot of land and throw some walls up. And so we we figured, okay, well, let's go solve those problems elsewhere. And to your point, like with school districts, I mean, a lot of these schools, unfortunately, don't even have an arts teacher, right. And so, to be able to come in there make the environment more inviting for the students and the teachers, but also provide that outlet and medium for artists to be recognized. And a lot of them and this is my favorite part about what we do. It's, it's their first time getting recognized for that work. Absolutely. Other than that, it's they've been posting on Instagram with limited followers, whatever it might be, and, and then they can come in and they get a shout out from us and a team behind them and we pair them up with another artists that can help them out or have similar style. So it's a really fun, organic process, to watch kind of unfold and flourish. I
Anika Jones 17:03
love it. I love it. I really appreciate that. As someone who's contributed to this community through the school district, through the arts. I'm just very proud to be a part of this process. And I hope that the community is ready and proud to be a part of our journey together.
Dan Bulgatz 17:16
Yeah. And Mr. Nikka Jones, your your value to the team cannot be understated as recently we had our first ever graffiti Park. Our first let me start that over. We recently had our first ever graffiti Park Foundation fest, which is where we were able to have over 20 different artists out there some different vendors, some community partners, the Office of Cultural Affairs from Las Vegas, CSN, and just a multitude of different other partners around Las Vegas where we really got to unite our community and kind of bring together our first event thanks to you, which was amazing. Despite a couple of hiccups, Mother Nature, exactly. But all things considered. I mean, it was a great success considering that we had over 20 artists, you are being welcomed into our community with open arms is just as almost everybody is and we can't, you know, sit here and say that we would have anything else without you. So thank you very
Anika Jones 18:13
much. Appreciate it. And listen, it's not at all work for me. Anything that we're doing that to that we can enrich the community in which our students change workforce development, keep things sustainable, looking good. Hey, I'm all for it. I'm all for it. So I really appreciate guys. Listen, thank you so much for being here. Of course, we're going to be here every Sunday. I hope you guys stay tuned. 930 to 10am. Gentlemen, thank you. Thank you so very much. You're welcome.
Dan Moloney 18:40
You can also check us out if you feel so inclined on Instagram at graffiti Park underscore LV