The vast white exterior walls of Civic Centre Arena could soon provide the canvas for a huge sports-theme mural commissioned by the Nelson and District Sports Council.
The sports council will accept applications from artists interested in undertaking the project until the end of January. The best applicants will be shortlisted and asked to provide a conceptual sketch of what they would put on the wall.
Because the Civic Centre is a city-owned building, council will have the final say on the mural design. The goal is to have an artist ready to start work on the mural, and grant funding in place, by June 2014.
Sports council executive director Kim Palfenier said the mural could be painted directly on the wall or could be a graphic design printed on a building wrap.
"We'll wait and see what the artists come up with in their expressions of interest," Palfenier said, noting that because the format is yet to be determined there isn't yet a budget attached to the project.
She suggested it could cost upwards of $100,000 for the entire project, which would likely be undertaken in phases starting with the west wall, facing Hall Street, and continuing around the north side, facing the Nelson and District Community Complex parking lot.
Rotary Daybreak is on board to help fundraise for any portion of the project that can't be covered by grants.
Palfenier said the building is an ideal location for a mural.
"It would tie in nicely with the Hall Street corridor improvements by really brightening up that building and making [the mural] an attraction that people will want to stop and look at when they're walking up that way," she said. "People working out at the gym would see it out the window ... It's a highly visible location."