IPSWICH’S own street art expert has held his first official sit-down with Mayor Teresa Harding, pitching a vision to bring the creative ideas he’s helping deliver in other cities back to the place he calls home.
Street art consultant and Ipswich local Matt Tervo met with Mayor Harding to talk shop about the city’s creative future and how street art, private investment and bigger opportunities could help take Ipswich’s arts scene to another level.
Tervo, who was appointed Brisbane City Council’s first street art consultant and is now in talks with other South East Queensland councils about similar roles, said the first formal meeting had opened the door to an exciting conversation.
“It went really well,” Tervo said.
“Nothing concrete came out of the meeting but that was never my intention.
“But it was an awesome opportunity to broadly speak about some of my thoughts for Ipswich and get a sense of what resonates.
“It sounds like Mayor Harding is a genuine supporter of the arts and wants to see if there’s an opportunity for us to work together for Ipswich.”
While Tervo and Cr Harding had previously crossed paths and spoken together at events, this was their first official opportunity to sit down and talk shop about Ipswich’s creative potential.
For Tervo, there is a certain irony in being sought out by other cities while driving away from his own to offer the expertise he would love to put to work at home.
“Yeah, it’s been a bit painful sitting in traffic to drive to other cities to give them advice and not be able to do the same for my own.”
He said Ipswich was already doing an impressive job of helping emerging artists take their first steps towards turning their talent into a career.
“What I tried to highlight to the Mayor was that Ipswich does an awesome job of supporting emerging artists,” Tervo said.
“If you’re looking to take that leap from hobby to earning a bit of money, then Ipswich really is top tier with the support it provides.
“But when that advice works and your career gets a bit of momentum, you have to leave.”
That, Tervo believes, is the missing piece.
Rather than tearing up the blueprint, he wants Ipswich to build on what it already does well and create the next rung of the creative ladder in bigger projects, commercial opportunities and reasons for talented artists to stay in the city as their careers grow.
“I don’t want Ipswich to stop what it’s doing. But I think it needs to build the next layer and start to bring to life the big-ticket opportunities,” he said.
