ART in public spaces is being pushed in the city of creatives.
The Baguio City Council approved a measure asking government and the creatives to collaborate and look into the possibility of allowing local artists to paint murals into pedestrian lanes along Session Road to help spread road safety awareness.
Proposed by Councilor Mylen Yaranon, the resolution is requesting the City Engineering Office (CEO) in cooperation with the Baguio Arts And Creatives Collection Inc. (BACCI) to execute the artistic project.
"Painting road murals on the pedestrian lanes along Session Road will serve three purposes: first, it will help promote road safety awareness among the constituents and visitors of the city; second, it will help promote the works of our local Baguio artists, who are not only renowned locally but internationally as well; and third it will serve as another attraction on Session Road thereby contributing to the Creative City image of Baguio," Yaranon said.
Yaranon said pedestrian lanes on Session Road, being main thoroughfare of city, would serve as a venue for this project.
For motorist safety, signages indicating "creative pedestrian lane ahead" will be installed at the points of ingress into Session Road and live true to the declaration of the city by Unesco as the first Creative City in the Philippines.
Yaranon said a similar project was executed in the City of Antipolo, which has adopted the practice of painting their pedestrian lanes into road murals along strategic points in order to promote road safety and prevent pedestrian-related accidents and encourage motorist to keep their eyes on the road.