Winnipeg, Manitoba
Reclaiming a downtown corridor for walking, gathering, and play
The Project
Re-imagining Graham Avenue involved a fast-paced street mural project that transformed a bus corridor into a pedestrian area, with park-like features and festival space. Eight murals, tied together by the work of a lead artist. The street murals were installed on four city blocks over a two-week period in July 2025. Colourful murals (with a palette reflecting many different partner organizations and businesses) brought to life approximately 24,000 square feet of road space, and helped temporarily transform the road into animated pedestrian space where people can walk, bike, eat and play on Graham.
Best Practice Highlight: Partnering for Success
The Re-imagining Graham project was led with partnerships in mind. It brought key stakeholders and their connections to the table to find creative ways to animate the street. This included lighting, seating, placemaking competition, street furniture, games and of course, street paint. For the street paint portion of this project, the artists worked collaboratively with a project manager, Stéphane Dorge, to guide the process, as well as and a lead artist, Takashi Iwasaki,. For such a large site, collaboration, teamwork and partnerships were crucial to doing the best with what we had.
Use the slider to see the transformation
It’s great to see a Graham Avenue that is more colourful, more dynamic, more pedestrian-friendly. This funding helped us make some quick changes and take the first steps toward a long-term vision of making Graham one of downtown’s signature streets
Mayor Scott Gillingham
I hope that people see this project and say, ‘Yes, this makes sense, this street should be a place for people, both now and in the future.’ Downtown is worth the investment, and this project is helping people see that.
Karin Kliewer, Senior Planner, City of Winnipeg
Press
Art is afoot, Winnipeg Free Press (July 12, 2025)
Graham Avenue undergoes vibrant transformation in downtown Winnipeg (July 8, 2025)
Ping pong tables, art installations coming to Graham Avenue as part of pilot project (June 23, 2025)
Ping-pong, picnic tables coming to Graham Avenue as city reimagines former bus mall (June 23, 2025)
For inspiration and tips for the creation of art on roadways and public places, download the Bloomberg Associates Asphalt Art Guide which features successful plaza and roadway art activations around the world, as well as key steps for developing such projects.
