Sterling Downey

Sterling Downey is an artist, festival organizer, and politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is a founding member and principal organizer of the Under Pressure graffiti art festival in the city and has served on the Montreal city council since 2013 as a member of Projet Montréal.

Sterling Downey
Montreal City Councillor for Desmarchais-Crawford
Incumbent
Assumed office 2013
Preceded by	Alain Tassé
Personal details
Political party	Projet Montréal

Private career: graffiti artist and festival organizer

Downey was born in Montreal.[1] Both his parents died when he was in his mid-20s, a development that he has acknowledged caused him to enter a "massive" state of depression during this time. He credits the culture of graffiti art with helping him through those years of his life.[2]

Downey was a co-founder of Under Pressure in 1995. He has acknowledged that the first festival was intended as a joke, undertaken in response to crackdowns from the city and police; this notwithstanding, he has also said that the festival eventually became a means of keeping debates around graffiti in the public eye and of informing skeptical Montrealers of different sides to the issue.[3]

Downey has frequently commented on various issues surrounding graffiti art, including its legal status and the motivations of its creators.[4] "You're doing it for free," he said in 2001. "You have to accept that it may disappear or be crossed out the next day."[5] He has acknowledged the ethical dilemmas of the practice, describing the art as, "illegal, but romantic," and at one point saying, "If I go and paint something on a building without permission, I must take responsibility for my actions. I know right from wrong."[6] In the 2010s, he encouraged a group of youth from the Pointe-Saint-Charles YMCA to protect a mural in their area from vandalism; in relation to this matter, he has said, "If you want to change the direction of something, you need to use positive actions, not negative ones."[7]

In 2006, Downey invited city councillor Marcel Tremblay to come to the Under Pressure festival, after Tremblay had publicly advocated for a new law targeting graffiti artists.[8] Tremblay accepted the offer and had an extended conversation with Downey during the event. Downey remarked that he respected Tremblay for doing this, even if their viewpoints were ultimately different.[9]

Downney subsequently branched out into advertising and became the creative director of a group called Faux Amis. He organized an event called the Sneaker Pimps Tour in 2008, featuring 1,500 editions of rare sneakers.[10]

In 2014, Downey argued that graffiti artists should receive credit for the use of their images in copyrighted media such as movies and video games.[11]

City Councillor

Downey was elected to Montreal city council in the 2013 municipal election, winning a close contest over actor Sébastien Dhavernas of the Équipe Denis Coderre pour Montréal party in the Verdun division of Desmarchais-Crawford. Projet Montréal emerged as the main opposition party on council in this election, and Downey was appointed as the party's critic on homelessness and animal issues.[12] By virtue of his position on city council, he also serves on the Verdun borough council.

In May 2015, Downey brought forward a motion to permit skateboarders to make use of Montreal's bike paths. The motion was unanimously accepted.[13] He subsequently led a successful drive for the Verdun borough council to approve an upgraded skateboard park in the area,[14] and in early 2016 he successfully advocated for Verdun to ban new drive-through establishments on the grounds that they would encourage unnecessary automobile use.[15]

Downey brought forward a motion in January 2016 to require that "heat stop" buildings, wherein homeless people can gather for warmth, be opened whenever Montreal's temperature falls to -15 degrees Celsius. Montreal's existing law indicated these facilities would only open if the temperature fell to -27.[16] Shortly thereafter, Downey called for the city to approve an anti-bullying policy with greater protection in public spaces, including parks and transit.[17]

Also in 2016, Downey was one of only two city councillors to vote against changing the name of Montreal's Vimy Park to honour former Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau. He said he was "saddened" that no one involved in the process considered that removing the former name, which honoured fallen Canadian soldiers from the Battle of Vimy Ridge, "might actually insult somebody."[18] A newspaper report on the matter indicated that Downey was an associate member of the Royal Canadian Legion branch in Verdun.[19]

Following a calèche accident resulting in an injury to a horse, he called for the city to either regulate the calèche industry effectively or abolish it.[20] He later opposed calls for a pit bull ban in the city, calling instead for "responsible ownership."[21]

Electoral record

2013 Montreal municipal election: Councillor, Desmarchais-Crawford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Projet Montréal	Sterling Downey	2,306	24.80
	Équipe Denis Coderre	Sébastien Dhavernas	2,095	22.53
	Vrai changement	Marie-Josée Parent	1,917	20.62
	Option Verdun / Montréal	Richard Langlais	1,523	16.38
	Coalition Montréal	Françoise Gloutnay	1,082	11.64
	Équipe Andrée Champoux	France Caya	376	4.04
Total valid votes			9,299	100	–
Total rejected ballots			319	3.32	–
Turnout			9,618	43.68
Electors on the lists			22,017	–	–
Source: Election results, 2013, City of Montreal.

References

1. Warren Kinsella, "But is it art?", National Post, 9 August 2007.
2. Jesse Feith, "Graffiti isn't always an eyesore," Montreal Gazette, 4 August 2014, A3.
3. Monique Muise, "Under Pressure festival continues the debate over graffiti," Montreal Gazette, 30 July 2011, B2.
4. John MacFarlane, "Graffiti artists get to paint legally," Globe and Mail, 11 August 2003.
5. Sarah Lazarovic, "A day of freedom for an illicit art," National Post, 8 August 2001, B10.
6. Warren Kinsella, "But is it art?", National Post, 9 August 2007; Dominique Blain, "Artists and city no closer to harmony, organizer says," Montreal Gazette, 13 August 2007.
7. Jesse Feith, "Graffiti isn't always an eyesore," Montreal Gazette, 4 August 2014, A3.
8. Kristin Morency, "City councillor to see writing on the wall," Montreal Gazette, 12 August 2006, A7.
9. Kristin Morency, "Graffiti foe checks out writing on wall," Montreal Gazette, 14 August 2006, A7.
10. Natasha Aimee Hall, "Shoe culture steps up in urban art event; 1,500 pairs of 'one-off' designs," Montreal Gazette, 5 February 2008, E2.
11. Julie Anne Pattee, "Ottawa-born artist sues ex-Monty Python member," Ottawa Citizen, 30 September 2014, A1.
12. "Projet Montréal unveils shadow cabinet for city hall," Postmedia Breaking News, 7 January 2014.
13. René Bruemmer, "City gives skateboards green light to share bike paths," Montreal Gazette, 28 May 2015, A3.
14. René Bruemmer, "Skateboarding paradise slated for Verdun; First full-sized, open-concept outdoor concrete skate park in city," Montreal Gazette, 7 November 2015, A4.
15. René Bruemmer, "Verdun votes to ban new drive-thru businesses," Montreal Gazette, 6 February 2016, A3.
16. John Meagher, "Coderre to review heat shelter guidelines," Montreal Gazette, 15 January 2016, A5.
17. "Projet Montréal wants city to create anti-bullying policy," Montreal Gazette, 20 February 2016, A8.
18. Graeme Hamilton, "'Breaking the faith'; Critics angry over renaming of Vimy Ridge Park for Parizeau," National Post, 23 June 2016, A3.
19. Aaron Derfel, "Coderre renames part of N.D.G. Park in honour of Vimy," Montreal Gazette, 26 September 2016, A1.
20. René Bruemmer, "Calèche industry under scrutiny," Montreal Gazette, 22 April 2016, A6.
21. René Bruemmer, "Demonstration defends pit bulls as ban proposed," Montreal Gazette, 27 September 2016, A4.