TAUNTON — “We need more color in our lives,” said Jay Pateakos, director of the city’s Office of Economic and Community Development (OECD), on the overarching reason behind looking to install murals across the whole city.
The OECD is spearheading a public art installation initiative for both beautifying and economic reasons and is currently looking for local artists and design ideas for murals.
“The project will focus on the painting of murals throughout the city to bring out the colors and vibrancy of the city and focus attention on the diverse history of the various city sections,” according to a presentation by the OECD at the Oct. 24 City Council meeting.
The program’s funding, covering the costs for artist fees and materials, is through the city’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The city’s ARPA Coordinator Karen Grossi-Pemberton told the Council this mural program is a “hands-on approach” to addressing economic recovery for the culture, tourism and hospitality sectors in the city as public art grabs instant attention through social media.
Inspiration
Pateakos brought up during the presentation the positive attention the Whittenton neighborhood recently received with two mural installations, both funded through MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Initiative for boosting economic development in that area. Both murals have either been completed or are soon to be completed by local Taunton artist Ryan Jones.
“The city is allowing artists to be creative and colorful, and providing artists the flexibility to incorporate any historical aesthetic elements they deem appropriate for any given project,” Pateakos said.
“The mural program promotes arts and culture, drives economic growth and enhances our other creative programs,” said Mayor Shaunna O’Connell.
O’Connell added when she initially approached the OECD about starting a mural program for the city, “They were thinking along the same lines and further developed it into an impressive program. It is gratifying to see the teamwork in our city that allows for creative collaboration across departments to benefit our community.”
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OECD Assistant Director Jim Howland said Taunton’s mural program is mirroring mural programs in other cities in Massachusetts, such as Boston’s Mural Program and New Bedford’s downtown mural scene.
He said developing a network of murals across the city will serve as a scavenger hunt-like tourist attraction for both Taunton residents and visitors. The plan is to create an online map, managed by the city, showing the location of every mural, an overview of what’s expressed with each mural, as well as the restaurants and businesses within proximity of each mural, for people to experience.
Howland said the program will also utilize QR codes next to each mural, which will take a person using a smart phone to the city’s informational page, connecting the user with all relevant information.
“We want to make everything more interactive,” he said.
Howland also said the program plans on offering both large-scale murals, as well as small-scale designs not meant for exteriors walls on buildings. Based on the amount of interest and number of applications received, small-scale murals may be planned for such features as sidewalks, electrical utility boxes and abandoned post office mailboxes.
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Getting involved as an artist or to provide space
The OECD is currently seeking requests for information (ROI) from artists for murals, as well as business owners volunteering space on an exterior wall of their buildings.
“Having a beautiful mural painted on their wall at no cost to them to help distinguish their establishment will be the incentive for each business involved,” Pateakos said.
OECD will be in charge of pairing up artists with businesses, who can then communicate to determine if the project vision will work for a given space.
Applications for the mural program are open to any interested artist, but there is a strong preference in favor of artists from Taunton “in an effort to promote local creators and the Taunton arts scene,” said Pateakos.
The ROI submission deadline for artists is Dec. 15 and must include a draft of the proposed design.
Businesses interested in offering exterior wall space for the mural program should contact the Office of Economic and Community Development.
