Adding a mural to your private property used to be a long, expensive process. It involved a months-long review, permission from the Executive Director of the City Planning Commission and the Design Advisory Committee, and a $500 permit fee,

As of June 13, the permitting process is much simpler. Residents who wish to add public art to their property must fill out an application, provide a building elevation drawn to scale, a sketch of the mural, and proof of ownership (or permission from the owner), and pay a $50 fee. In designated historic districts like the French Quarter, the owner must first get approval from the Historic District Landmarks Commission.

The revision comes on the tails of Mural Reform Project’s Change.org petition to reform the mural ordinance process, which garnered more than 1,000 signatures.

In March 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the City of New Orleans for its treatment of street artists, stating that “forcing artists and their patrons to get permission from the government, pay exorbitant fees, and navigate an obscure bureaucratic process before they can express themselves on their own property is a totally unnecessary trampling of their First Amendment rights.”

Visit the City of New Orleans website or the One Stop Permits and Licenses office (7th Floor, 1300 Perdido Street) for more information about the mural permit process.