photo: courtesy Michael B. Schwartz
Coming soon to walls near you: “three wonderful neighborhood arts projects,” courtesy of...well, you.
Under the banner of “Beautify and Unify,” this fall Tucson Arts Brigade (TAB) in conjunction with 29th Street Coalition, Archer Neighborhood Center and Barrio Centro Neighborhood Association will spearhead the creation of several murals designed to promote the concept of “arts as civic engagement.”
Public participation and input is as important to these murals as brushes and ladders.
“These three projects are going to be landmarks,” says muralist, artist educator and TAB director Michael B. Schwartz, emphasizing his core belief that “every culture has a right to express itself.” Paint on the side of a building? Sure, but these artistic ventures are primarily about “stewardship,” and “bringing young people and old people together using murals as a vehicle,” says Schwartz.
Since 1996, TAB murals have injected vitality into Tucson’s tapestry of life. At many locations across our sun-kissed city, including Wakefield Middle School, Bronx Wash and Miracle Manor Neighborhood, colors splashed across adobe and concrete have engendered a sense of community.
Continuing in this vein, workshops and discussions held this August and September to plan the new murals will lead towards consensus and what Schwartz calls “content filled by neighborhood people.” The idea is to “make the process rich and the product beautiful” and invest in “cultural democracy.”
Here’s where you come in. Ours is a town with an arts scene that is “open to experimentation and innovation,” says TAB’s Schwartz. It’s impossible to say precisely what these three new murals will look like or depict. That’s up to individuals working as a team in each neighborhood to decide. It’s good to see folks banding together to improve our Sonoran paradise. Everyone can be an artist. Make a tax-deductible donation or become involved at TucsonArtsBrigade.org.
