Under Pressure
feeling it

The bills are piling up for the popular graffiti
celebration, but the show will go on

COST BE DAMNED: Sterling Downey

by LUCAS WISENTHAL

To Sterling Downey, holding the international graffiti festival Under Pressure is worth the risk of declaring personal bankruptcy. And depending how this year’s edition, its 14th, goes, he may end up doing just that.

“This is the conviction in which I hold this event: do or die. Whether it costs me personally or not, I will do it,” Downey says.

Downey and two partners founded Under Pressure, which this year happens Aug. 8–9, following a high-profile court case over graffiti-related charges. Downey says he wanted to see how the public would react to people writing graf in plain sight, legally. The event soon drew participants from all over North America and spawned an eponymous magazine and record label.

Despite the festival’s renown, Downey says staging Under Pressure has consistently proven a struggle. Last year, he found himself footing its $20,000 bill via his own credit card. That sort of DIY ethos can be misleading.

“We’ve proven that, rain or shine, do or die, we’re going to make this happen,” Downey says. “And I think, now, people just take it for granted. They’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, whatever. They don’t need the money; they’re going to make it happen. We’re going to allocate our money somewhere else.’”

With sponsorship money waning, and carrying debt from previous years, the future of Under Pressure seemed more uncertain than ever. In February, Downey and his crew vacated their offices, which they could no longer afford. They also ceased publication of their magazine—temporarily, Downey hopes. “Just those two things are pretty big fucking signs that we’re going through problems,” he says.

To hold Under Pressure, Downey sought funding from the community it serves. He took stock of the event’s Facebook group, which counted 1,400 members, and realized that a $10 donation from each would total $14,000, nearly enough to float the festival. He set the more modest goal of $10,000 and opened a PayPal account.

“I was like, ‘Let’s just see how important this event is to people.’ And I also needed it for myself, to see if people really had my back, in the sense of saying, ‘Do they have the same vision for this that I have?’”

Slowly, the donations rolled in. But while the response was largely positive, some objected to Downey’s call for funds. He was moved, though, by people’s overall willingness to give to an event many said changed their outlook on their own subculture. “The event has lasted for 14 years because people have worked together,” Downey says.

They raised about $4,500 online and secured an additional $1,000 from Concordia’s CJLO radio station. Other sponsorships are in the works.

This year, as usual, Saturday’s event will take place at Peace Park, on St-Laurent just north of René-Lévesque, with DJs, MCs and crews painting murals. On Sunday, writers will gather behind Foufounes Électriques (87 Ste-Catherine E.) for the festival’s main event, which will also include breakdance demos, a skateboarding contest and the requisite DJs.

Downey has considered alternative options for funding: selling Under Pressure to a larger festival, which he says would kill it, or setting it up as a not-for-profit, an expensive, time-consuming proposition. He’s also sure that government grants and their stipulations would sink the event.

Through it all, Under Pressure’s mandate has stayed the same: to sensitize the public to graffiti as the city continues to clamp down on it and to showcase graffiti artists’ work for free to a large audience. “This event,” he says, “it’s a very big deal to the community.”