Plans to honor Brantford-born Phil Hartman with a large mural on the Sanderson’s Center east wall in the city’s downtown are moving ahead.
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City councilors at a committee meeting Tuesday voted in favor of the proposal initiated by Coun. Rose Sicoli (Ward 1).
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“He was a wildly successful actor, comedian, screenwriter and voice actor and my favorite character was when he said “Hi I’m Troy McClure” from The Simpsons,” Sicoli said. “Everybody on earth knows that character.
“This would be such a nice gesture, to honor part of Brantford’s contribution to the international arts and culture stage.”
Sicoli said the Sanderson Center was chosen as the site for the mural because it’s the city’s hub of arts and culture. The mural will enhance and beautify the downtown.
“We have a lot of people visiting the Sanderson Center from in and out of town,” Sicoli said. “We want to encourage people to visit the Sanderson to see the mural and take photographs.”
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Born in Brantford on Sept. 24, 1948, Hartman co-developed the character of Pee-wee Herman, spent eight seasons on Saturday Night Live and was the voice of multiple characters on The Simpsons, including Troy McClure, Lionel Lutz and Lyle Lanley. In 1997, Hartman was added to Brantford’s Walk of Fame, now Prominence Point, at a ceremony that he attended, marking his first return to the city since leaving as a 10-year-old.
Hartman died May 28, 1998 after being shot by his wife Brynn Omdahl while he slept. She died by suicide hours later.
More than a decade later, Hartman was posthumously inducted into the Canada Walk of Fame in 2012 and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.
Plans call for city staff, in collaboration with Sicoli, to engage the broader community, Nova Vita, the Hartman family and other comedians to develop themes for the mural.
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Sicoli said Nova Vita will be approached because Hartman was victim of intimate partner violence, a topic that she helped bring to the forefront locally.
“This mural would be such a wonderful tribute to his life and contributions,” Sicoli said.
Plans call for the city to hire Mural Routes, a member-based not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to the creation, development and promotion of public wall art.
The city will set aside up to $42,500 from the public art reserve for the project with an additional $42,500 coming from the council priorities budget. Plans call for city officials to seek out grants and sponsorship to help cover some of the project’s costs.
The proposal was unanimously recommended for approval by city councillor’s at a Tuesday (April 16) committee meeting. It will come before council for approval on April 30.
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