A downtown mural movement we covered in part one of our series encountered a roadblock this spring — but not due to public opposition or lack of support.

Muralist Christina Parrish presented a plan to the town that would allow sponsors to pay artists for adding to the downtown public art project. 

Supporters say it’s a win-win, revitalizing the downtown area at no taxpayer expense. But as public art advocate Bruce Frankel explained in the latest installment of our “Microscope” podcast, a local sign ordinance has caused the project to stall.

As currently written, the ordinance restricts off-site signage — essentially barring a business from advertising its name on a property it doesn’t own. Murals featuring small sponsor acknowledgements seem to fall under that broad prohibition.

“A mural is not a sign,” Frankel said. “You can’t put a round peg in a square hole.”

He went on to describe Parrish’s proposal as “basically a commemorative plaque,” noting that the associated murals are in no way a form of advertising. 

“It’s not a picture of their store,” he said. “It’s art.”

Frankel outlined another common argument of those who support Parrish’s project.

“This is a cause-marketing initiative,” he said. “A company could take out an ad, but instead they want to support something good for the community. That should be allowed.”

Parrish and her partners in the community have begun exploring options by combing through other town ordinances across the state and beyond for solutions that might apply to Kernersville’s predicament. 

Frankel doesn’t think finding common ground with the town government has to be complicated — and the matter is currently under review ahead of a report expected to be presented by August. 

Town Manager Curtis Swisher echoed Frankel’s assessment of the deadlock, telling Scope News: “The problem is not the murals, the problem is the commercial advertising at the bottom of the mural.”

Swisher, like everyone we’ve spoken to on either side of the debate, sees a possible path to middle ground between art and ordinance. We’ll explore what that might look like in the third and final installment of our “The Writing On The Wall” series.

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Hear our full conversation with Bruce Frankel below:

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