Wednesday 24 February 2010

Street Manhole Covers - the Banner programme

Banners for the 2010 French Film Festival. I have purchased my tickets!
At Christmas, I showed you the banners flying in the streets of the city. Here are some more banners that have been flying along our streets over the last few weeks.

Just under 2,000 city street Banners are prominently positioned throughout the City.


Top: Rupert Bunny at the Art-Gallery, tick
Second: Chinese New Year, tick
Last: Left the Martin Sharp exhibit at the Museum of Sydney, no tick!
Last: Right, the current exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art - no tick!
The programme is administered by the City Council. Banners must:
visually enhance the City’s streetscape; and,

promote arts and cultural activities including events, festivals, tourism or civic programs, as well as major sporting and retail events of public interest.
They are not cheap though - but I guess things are relative. Top tier commercials pay $85 per banner. Second tier commercials pay $70 per banner. Whereas, Not-for-Profits pay $18 per banner. In addition, the advertiser has to pay to put the banners up, to take them down, and to launder them, if required. As a ballpark, 100 banners for two weeks could cost $21,500.

I like them. They are jolly and colourful, AND remind me of the things that are on in the City.

The manhole covers for the poles, on which the banners fly

12 comments:

Lois said...

I like them too, but I would have never thought them to be that expensive!

Lucas Mendes said...

small detail of a big history! nice photos!

Jim said...

I haven't noticed these decorative flag pole hole covers before. I'll keep an eye for them.
Thanks for your efforts in tracking down any info on those vats. I spent a bit of time googling for info and eventually found some very interesting stuff. I was a bit surprised by their actual use. I'm writing it up now for my post tomoorrow.
Sydney - City and Suburbs

Janet said...

Interesting manhole covers - ours are so boring - nothing special about them at all!

Julie said...

The decoraton on these ones are the emblem of the city of Sydney.

Claudya Martinez said...

I can not look at banners without thinking of my step-dad. His business is called The Banner Shop and he makes banners.

Unknown said...

These banners certainly look better than jumbo banners along the roads and on top of the buildings. What's that animal on the manhole covers? Is it Sydney's mascot or something similar?

Nathalie H.D. said...

My office in Sussex Street used to overlook Darling harbour and I could see the banners changing regulary.

I like that you give the details about how much they cost - very interesting!

Nathalie H.D. said...

And Julie - there's an Aussie magpie on display in Avignon today. Come on over to have a look!

Joan Elizabeth said...

I wondered how manholes covers fitted into the scheme of things. As for the cost, you're right things are relative, that is inexpensive for a week of such high profile coverage no wonder they are so popular! Collecting them together the way you have makes for a very interesting post.

Dina said...

Thanks for the inside info.
Clever, those capped holes in the ground. And pretty.

Ham said...

the image on the manhole covers is from the NSW flag