On Jan. 29, 2018, Austin’s Historic Landmark Commission approved the demolition of the HOPE Outdoor Gallery, informally known as Graffiti Park, in an 8-0 vote without discussion. The gallery, located in the heart of downtown Austin, is filled with concrete slabs where artists, locals, and tourists are invited to spray paint freely.

“The demolition of Graffiti Park is quite devastating considering the fact that it is an important landmark of Downtown Austin. It created a genuine community that brought people together,“ Zachary Olds ‘19 said.

The gallery will be relocated to southeast Austin, off of South 183 and Texas Highway 71, in a six-acre area next to the Colorado River and the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. It will offer art classes for children and adults, and include more walls and a parking lot, not offered by the original area.

“I was outraged at first when I found out they were demolishing graffiti park, but I was happy to hear that they are planning on relocating it. It just won’t feel the same if its not in downtown Austin. I don’t understand why they are uprooting a place with so many memories to a place so far out from the city,” Ryan Ball ‘18 said.

The gallery will not be demolished until June of 2018, once the site has been fully photo-documented to be archived at the Austin History Center.