The Vancouver park board has approved a proposal to paint a mural on the surface of a basketball court.

The basketball court mural will be a first in the city.

The idea was proposed by organizers of the Vancouver Mural Festival.

The artwork is planned to be made this month at the basketball court of Mount Pleasant Park, with the participation of youth and other members of the community.

The project will be led by artist Scott Sueme, who lives two blocks away from the park and plays on the court regularly.

With fluidity as its theme, the mural will be painted in tones of green and blue.

“The mural will signal Park Board’s support of the arts and sports and the understanding that they are both participatory activities which can co-exist in the same spaces and places,” according to a staff report considered by the board at its meeting Monday (July 10).

“This is a message which is appropriately located in a central location in a neighbourhood which is becoming known as Vancouver’s mural district,” the report continued.

Park commissioners approved a $35,000 budget for the art initiative.

According to the staff report, cities like New York and Rome have basketball courts with murals.

The mural is expected to be completed in time for the Mount Pleasant Park festival on July 29.

The Vancouver park board staff report stated that the mural will become a civic landmark.