No Show

The writing is on the wall for Marc Ecko. The hip-hop fashion mogul's original plans to hold a graffiti festival in Denver on June 18 in Skyline Park seem unlikely to come to fruition, as the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs reports that he has yet to apply for a permit. This is quite a turn of events after Ecko's April 8 salvo threatening to sue the City of Denver unless it tossed its ordinance barring juveniles from possessing spray paint. In 2005, Ecko took New York City to court after Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to rescind the permits for a similar block party that Ecko had planned in Manhattan. Ecko won on First Amendment grounds, and it appeared that he was going to try to follow the same script here in Denver. The reaction from the local political establishment was predictably hostile, but less expected was the icy response from the city's hip-hop and graffiti communities, who had yet to be included in the entrepreneur's grandiose plans ("Art of War," April 27).

Rather than step up for a Colorado slugfest, however, Ecko's attorney, David Lane, turned down a more amicable path by sending a second letter to City Attorney Cole Finegan on April 19, seeking assurances from officials that underage scribblers would not be ticketed or arrested for having spray paint or broad-tipped markers while creating art for the festival. A week later, Finegan responded that the anti-graffiti ordinance already allows underagers to possess spray paint "when under the direct supervision of the minor's parent, legal guardian, or teacher." While the letter expressed concern that the event could affect surrounding businesses and property owners, Finegan encouraged Ecko to begin the permitting process to address such questions.

After limited consultation with local graffiti collective Guerilla Garden, Ecko still plans to go forward with a festival, but on a different date and at an alternate location. "The idea is to get real professional artists to do a mural on the side of a school, most likely in a blighted neighborhood," Lane says. The new event, which would include other graffiti-art displays painted on temporary walls, could then take place on school grounds or some adjacent public property. Lane has yet to speak with officials from Denver Public Schools about the concept, and negotiations with the city are still ongoing. But Lane says that Ecko hopes to pull off the party sometime in August. Meanwhile, the Denver graffiti world remains hesitant but hopeful that Ecko will spray it and not just say it.