Community Arts

“The mural itself is very beautiful and reflective. The message is really powerful. It sets the record straight about who we are and what our lives are like.” – Lead artist Olivia Levins Holden on the mural at Saint Stephen’s Human Services. Hope Community proposed to complete one community mural project with youth. Because of unique partnership opportunities that surfaced during the grant period, we were able to complete one youth mural project at Centro Tyron Guzmán on Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis and one adult mural project at Saint Stephens Human Services on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis during the grant period. The teams were each led by two artists who met with participants over several months to plan, sketch, develop their artistic skills and implement their vision. All the artists were developed as participants in Hope’s work and were mentored to become leaders in this work. The final murals are available to all community members and can be viewed at http://bit.ly/2hbFxc3 (Saint Stephen’s) and https://vimeo.com/186446150/recommended (Centro). One hundred percent (100%) of the 38 participants increased their artistic skills throughout the project. Participants sketched all the mural elements, which were pieced together into the mural with the support of the lead artists. Every participant displayed increased artistic skill throughout the project and all who attended the mural unveilings spoke publicly about their role in the project. Saint Stephen’s was a new partnership and it was a new demographic for Hope to work with homeless people. We had to develop strategies for effectively working with this population, and we saw very quickly how important the mural became to the people who participated. This, in turn, changed their behavior in the mural process and in other projects at Saint Stephen’s. With the support of our trained, mentored facilitators, participants reduced the number of conflicts they experienced both within the project and elsewhere at Saint Stephen’s over time (as reported by Saint Stephens’s staff and Hope mentors). Hope’s skill is in creating an environment in which creative expression, leadership development and personal growth can occur at the same time. What worked well? The flexibility of plan, the ability to change in developing relationships. Participants felt pride in the process. Like the change up in physical space. When you provide space and treat people with humanity magic happens. Support from other Minneapolis Institute of Art staff. Felt institutionally supported. Unveiling went well. Great continuity amongst partners. Transitioning from conversation, ideas, sketch, to paint. What didn't work well? Needed better storage for scaffolding equipment and training. Needed more clarity on roles among organizations. What we would change? In the future, we will involve more artist participation in the planning. Consider smaller projects to maintain relationships. Amplify more stories. “As the project got going, (the youth’s) minds became more prepped to communicating. It wasn’t so arduous. In the beginning, it was like, ‘What do we draw?’ As we got into the project they were overflowing with ideas and it was pouring out. Now it’s a natural part of their lives.” – Andrés Guzmán, lead artist on the Centro mural. We reached an even broader community than originally anticipated. We hoped to complete one new mural during the grant period and refurbish elements of previously completed murals. Because the partnership opportunity with Saint Stephen’s and Minneapolis Institute of Art surfaced, we were able to complete a second mural reaching a different underrepresented community. This provided more community diversity than originally anticipated. During the grant period we worked with Latino youth and homeless adults, all of whom are people of color. The participants in our program were driven by the project’s organizational partnerships. Latino youth involved in Centro Tyrone Guzmán’s Raíces program were the primary participants for that organization’s mural. Although they were all Latino, they were diverse in country of origin, language proficiency and how long they have been in the US. One of the lead artists on that project said, “The theme that revealed itself was Latin American heritage. It was a uniting culture that everyone came from.” Residents of Saint Stephen’s homeless shelter, all of whom are people of color, were the primary participants in that mural. Participants in that project discussed a possible benefit of making that project open to community members beyond Saint Stephen’s residents. There is some concern, however, that opening up participation to others might decrease some of the benefits the participants experienced (e.g., decreased tensions between residents and deeper connected to other Saint Stephen’s programming). Both murals benefited from a partnership with Minneapolis Institute of Art. The lead artist on the Centro project expressed that this was a major benefit to the project. “We worked with Minneapolis Institute of Art so I was able to get (the youth) tools that I like to use in my professional practice. I didn’t have access to that as a young kid,” he said. “They don’t realize it yet, but if they continue with art they will see they are ahead of the curve on ways to communicate their ideas.” We hope to identify additional funding to expand this partnership in 2017. 38 Latino youth created a community mural at Centro Tyrone Guzmán; 15 homeless adults created a community mural at Saint Stephen’s Human Services; 100 percent of participants reported or were observed to have increased artistic skill after participating in the project.