Graffiti Park featuring artist spotlights and interviews, in-depth tutorials, and ask various questions about how each artist got started and where their inspiration comes from.
The Business of the Year Awards exemplify the tremendous spirit and capabilities of our business community. The businesses and individuals honored are diverse, bold, and innovative – just like Vegas itself. Finalists and winners are chosen by the Vegas Chamber’s Business of the Year Awards Selection Committee. The awards program was presented by Shannon Peterson, Executive Vice President of Corporate Banking for Nevada State Bank.
A big congratulations to the winners, and all the deserving finalists announced at our 2022 Business of the Year Awards on the 13th of October, at the Keep Memory Alive Event Center.
The 2022 Winners For The Business Of The Year Awards
For the full list of award categories and finalists, please continue reading below:
Business of the Year (1-50 employees): Recognizes companies that prioritize positive community impact, sustainability within the Nevada business community and models a company culture of collaboration, innovation and positive reinforcement amongst its team members. The finalists for 2022 in this category are:
Business of the Year (51-100 employees): Recognizes companies that prioritize positive community impact, sustainability within the Nevada business community and models a company culture of collaboration, innovation and positive reinforcement amongst its team members. The finalists for 2022 in this category are:
Business of the Year (100+ employees): Recognizes companies that prioritize positive community impact, sustainability within the Nevada business community and models a company culture of collaboration, innovation and positive reinforcement amongst its team members. The finalists for 2022 in this category are:
Nonprofit of the Year: Focused on supporting, connecting and providing resources to residents and businesses, and exemplifies the tenet of “doing well by doing good” within the Nevada community. The finalists for 2022 in this category are:
Emerging Business of the Year:Honors companies as “rising stars” due to the actual or potential growth of its business, innovative products or services, and/or outstanding commitment to its employees and community. Company must be in business five years or less. The finalists for 2022 in this category are:
Executive of the Year (the highest ranking executive in your organization): Exemplifies innovative and strategic vision of the company, while executing a culture of inclusivity, creativity and achieving business growth in both reach and revenue. The finalists for 2022 in this category are:
To some people, the term “graffiti” often carries a negative connotation of vandalism.
However, a group of local artists is instead using graffiti as a way to give back to the community and inspire an artistic revolution across the city.
Graffiti Park Las Vegas is a local art collective that paints murals at local schools and other public spaces as a way to give back to the community and show that anyone can be an artist.
Daniel Bulgatz and his friend Daniel Maloney originally came up with the concept of Graffiti Park after a visit to the Hope Outdoor Gallery—a public art space in Austin, Texas that welcomes people to paint on its walls.
“Anyone and everybody is an artist and we really want to help others find their voice,” Graffiti Park CEO and co-founder said while at Robert Lund Elementary School earlier in May.
Bulgatz and his crew of several artists were at the school working on murals in celebration of Hispanic and African-American heritage.
With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the majority of businesses and events to close for the past year, much of Graffiti Park’s recent work has focused on painting elementary and middle schools due to them mostly being empty this year and to inspire younger children to engage with art.
Bulgatz hopes that Graffiti Park’s work will eventually catch on and inspire everyone from advanced artists to young children who have never painted in their lives to contribute to their projects.
“We’re not specific, we’re not an exclusive club, we don’t tell anyone there is not allowed to be here,” Bulgatz said. “This is all for the kids. This is all for the community.”
Graffiti Park sees its work as community-based rather than profit-driven. The artists are not paid and they volunteer their free time.
The only costs that come with projects is for supplies, but Bulgatz said that Graffiti Park are typically flexible on pricing with anyone allowing them into their space and that projects are often already low-cost since they typically are already stocked up on paint supplies leftover from previous projects. Individual artists can also be booked for private commissions where they can negotiate their own rates.
“If we set money as the determining factor off from the start we find that the projects don’t go as well,” Bulgatz said.
Many of Graffiti Park’s artists feel the same sentiment about giving back to the community.
“When I was in school I really didn’t have murals inside,” said Graffiti Park contributor Israel Sepulveda while painting at J.T. McWilliams Elementary School. “Having these paintings here will attract more kids [to come to school].”
Bulgatz has big plans for Graffiti Park. The group plans on becoming a certified non-profit and eventually establishing a physical location in Downtown Vegas similar to the Hope Outdoor Gallery where anyone can paint whatever they want.
The concept for a physical location would also feature a shop where people could potentially commission any of the collective’s artists to paint anything from a blank canvas to a pair of shoes.
“I think it’ll set a culture catalyst that nobody has seen in the last 15-20 years,” Bulgatz said.
Anyone interested in booking Graffiti Park for a project can contact them through their website.
Follow VegasNews.com for more stories about Vegas’ local arts community.
Over the past year, while many students completed their schoolwork at home, a team of young graffiti artists roamed the hallways of Southern Nevada schools and recreation centers with cans of spray paint.
They adorned stairwells, classrooms, corridors and brick walls with characters from “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars,” with portraits of historical figures like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Edgar Allan Poe, and inspiring quotes written in bright colors.
The more than 20 centers and schools that are now home to these artworks teamed up with Graffiti Park, an initiative started by Daniel Bulgatz and Daniel Maloney, Las Vegans who believe “everybody is an artist.”
“We’re trying to essentially build a Graffiti Park that is the hub for anything art-centric in Las Vegas,” says Maloney, 25. “In order to do that, we kind of came up with a funding model of going to YMCAs and schools, because we felt that, of all people, kids are the ones to look at art for what it is.”
Bulgatz and Maloney’s long-term goal is to create a graffiti park — a permanent location where artists both amateur and professional can create, view and engage with the graphic and vibrant style of street art. “There’s a lot of blank canvases out there. And we’re trying to connect those canvases with artists who want to paint them,” says Bulgatz, 24.
Personal Journals
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Thanks for tuning in to the Rite of Passion Podcast. I sat down with my friend, Daniel Maloney, to discuss the importance of expression, the stereotype surrounding graffiti, and what growing up in Las Vegas taught him about expression.
Daniel is the co-founder of Graffiti Park-Las Vegas, a park created by artists, for artists. The park encourages collaboration among artists and offers an opportunity to have their work featured around the city.
You can learn more about Dan on Instagram @itzbologna and Graffiti Park-Las Vegas @graffitipark_lv
If you enjoy today’s episode please consider leaving me a review and a rating so others may find the show as well. You can also connect with me on Instagram @riteofpassion or @calebvanderlugt.
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LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The City of Las Vegas and Life is Beautiful partnered with local artists to unveil a new mural on Monday morning.
The mural is at Douglas A. Selby Park and Trailhead near Washington and Lamb.
The community-based mural project features designs submitted by eight local artists.
The mural also features art created by local kids and curated by graffiti park and future makers.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS)– The city of Las Vegas and Life is Beautiful will join local artists on Monday, Aug 15 to unveil a new mural.
The unveiling will take place at Douglas A. Selby Park & Trailhead in the east valley.
The community-based mural project features designs submitted by local artists from all over the valley. Eight were selected to contribute to the large-scale mural at the park, which will also feature a mural created by Las Vegas children, curated by Graffiti Park and Future Makers.
Project organizers asked artists to create a mural with one question in mind: what makes life beautiful? The winning designs reflected the vibrant and colorful community, and feature nods to the neighborhood’s strong Latin roots.
The public art project is one of Life is Beautiful’s latest efforts to support the beautification of Las Vegas.
By Jason R. Latham | Las Vegas, NV | Life Is Beautiful
The final elements of 2021’s Life Is Beautiful Music and Art Festival are falling into place, as organizers have unveiled the lineup of artists that will have their work displayed throughout the Downtown Las Vegas event site. As has been tradition since 2013, art programming for the 2021 festival is curated by the woman-run creative house Justkids, and pairs traditional works with immersive art and walkthrough experiences.
Among the notable additions to this year’s lineup: Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart, which will bring an outdoor “Micro-Breakroom” to the festival, featuring rapping employees Nate and Hila, grocery-themed games, a sneak peek at Omega Mart’s grocery delivery truck, and a chance to be named “Employee of the Moment” if you participate in the brand’s “take on product research testing.” It’s anyone’s guess what that means, but it should be one of the most popular attractions near the Huntridge Stage.
Life Is Beautiful 2021 is also bringing back a returning champion in the form of the Bacardi® Art Motel, featuring artists Antonyo Marest and Spidertag. Another immersive art piece that’s likely to inspire a million Instagram posts is artist Laurie Shapiro’s “Flowers Are Not A Crime,” an interactive pro-cannabis work commissioned by Weedmaps.
Justkids, which counts downtown’s The Plaza Hotel & Casino and Electric Daisy Carnival among its notable Las Vegas clients, has again made this year’s Life Is Beautiful a showcase for local artists. Among them: sculptor Amy Sol; Izaac Zavalking (a.k.a. Recycled Propaganda); Strider Patton; Adam Rellah (a.k.a. Pretty Done); Mary Felker; Mila May; and urban art collective Graffiti Park.
For those that want to bring a piece of Life Is Beautiful art home with them, Fergusons Downtown will recreate its acclaimed Market In the Alley at the festival, featuring art, photography, jewelry, clothing, and other works by local creators.
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Padraig Madden says it’s hard to pick a favorite.
Which stack at Seven Magic Mountains makes the best backdrop for family photos.
“I kind of just like the whole thing,” he says while snapping pictures. “The desert in and of itself is so pretty but this little spot of color is nice to stop by.”
Out near Jean and I-15, the public artwork remains a huge draw for visitors.
Unfortunately, the colorful rocks have also been frequent targets of vandals.
Scratches of graffiti are returning just a few months after a major clean-up temporarily closed the site.
It’s that same disregard for public and private property that keeps painter Matt Westcott busy.
“Doing this 23 years,” he says pulling out supplies along the railroad tracks in the resort corridor.
Westcott is part of the Clark County Graffiti Abatement Team.
Five days a week, painters are out cleaning up someone else’s mess.
A bill paid by the taxpayer.
How much? According to Chief of Code Enforcement Jim Andersen, about $500,000 a year.
“We have an app people can download on their phone called ‘Fixit Clark County’ and they can report it that way,” says Andersen. “Drop a pin, take a picture, and send it to us and we know where it is.”
In the past four years, the problem has exploded.
In 2018, county painters removed about 7,000 instances of graffiti.
This year it’s more than doubled to 15,000.
“It’s like any kind of problem, the broken window theory,” explains Andersen. “If graffiti is there, it grows the longer you leave it. We want to get rid of it as quickly as possible.”
But while abatement is one important and necessary solution to the graffiti issue, diversion may be another.
And that’s where Graffiti Park, comes in. Giving people a legal avenue to express themselves.
Artists like Haide Calljas.
“It’s just about letting the spray can do its thing,” she explains while painting the word ‘courage’ on a piece of plywood. “It’s hard to find a studio these days so this place helps me clear my mind and actually work on my stuff and focus more.”
Graffiti Park is the brainchild of the two Daniels.
Maloney and Bulgatz.
Former fraternity brother at UNLV.
“We try to create a space where people can co-create and learn from one another,” says Maloney.
They not only help artists find inspiration but have taken that talent back to the Clark County School District.
“I got suspended twice for drawing with a sharpie on whiteboards,” laughs Bulgatz about his days as a CCSD student.
Now, he’s helping paint elaborate murals on otherwise drab and lifeless walls.
MORE | Several parks in Boulder City hit with graffiti, vandalism
“In the two years that we’ve done it we’ve come close to almost 300,000 square feet, 40 schools,” says Bulgatz. “Local businesses, we partner with the City of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas.”
And their non-profit is growing.
The long-term goal is to move Graffiti Park from its current home near West Charleston and Rainbow to the Downtown Arts District.
Reminding the community there’s a big difference between vandalism and art.
“It’s put into a negative box for a reason, I would be upset if someone destroyed my property,” says Maloney. “But you can make a living from that (graffiti), you can make a name for yourself. And we’ve seen our artists collaborate and come up with a gallery with someone who has a similar style or technique.”
Back at Seven Magic Mountains, Madden did notice those splashes of color where they don’t belong.
“Having someone come out and do their own thing on it is a little selfish I would say,” he says.
Still, visitors keep coming. Snapping family photos. Looking beyond those disappointing scratches to the beauty that remains.