Learn from the pros. If Green had consulted first with someone like Jane Golden, director of the city's hugely successful Mural Arts Program, she might have avoided the Bustleton controversy altogether. Golden and her staff literally spend months discussing mural concepts and images with neighborhood leaders and residents before applying the first brush of paint to any blank wall. It's a long, complex task, defining a community's voice. Public art is actually very personal.
People have to look at it for a long, long time.
So it has to be something everyone can live with. Own your mistakes and learn from them. Of the 2,000 murals produced by the Mural Arts Program, barely a handful have generated any sort of controversy. But Golden takes full responsibility for failures. And that's our fault, not the community's.