City Of Windsor Launches Musical And Artistic Pelissier Street Parking Garage Enhancements

The City of Windsor is planning musical and artistic enhancements to the Pelissier Street Parking Garage in downtown Windsor.

Saturday evening, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens and WSO Maestro Robert Franz unveiled plans for the “Park in Perfect Harmony” initiative. Planned for a spring 2025 rollout, the project will see all four floors of the garage named to honour composers Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. Theming on each floor will include an audio musical component featuring the WSO musicians performing segments of popular classics from the composers’ bodies of work.

For the simultaneous public art component, the City of Windsor is seeking to commission one or more artists, or artist-led teams, specializing in mural design and painting to create two permanent new murals that will be integrated into the main-level interior space of the Pelissier Street parking garage. The submission form will be available at www.CityWindsor.ca on October 1st, 2024.

Both the parking level naming and theming initiative, as well as the new main level murals, are intended to help beautify the parking garage that is frequently used by residents and visitors attending events, including WSO concerts and the Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) at the nearby Capitol Theatre. The projects will also complement existing creative works and installations in the adjacent Art Alley, which was created in partnership between the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association, the City, and artists. That space includes graffiti murals, Indigenous art, lampshade art, light installations, and sculptures, and forms the backdrop for ongoing downtown events, including the Downtown Windsor Farmers’ Market.

The murals will help to beautify the parking garage, inspiring future innovative, engaging, and temporary uses of the space such as concerts, exhibitions, celebrations, poetry readings, markets, and more.