The City of Lancaster has been awarded a $25,000 national grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, in partnership with the SoWe Neighborhood Group and the Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership to create a street mural at the intersection of West Strawberry, South Mulberry, and West Vine Streets in the Cabbage Hill neighborhood. Support is also being provided by Sherwin Williams. This project is supported by a grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Asphalt Art Initiative which helps cities use art and community engagement to improve street safety and revitalize public space. The focus of the initiative is asphalt art: visual interventions on roadways, pedestrian spaces, and vertical infrastructure. Lancaster is one of 16 cities to receive the grant.
“To achieve the goals and programs outlined in our Ten-Year Plan for Public Art, we rely on grants like this. The support allows us to work directly with community members to create projects in their neighborhoods. An exciting part of this project is how it puts artists and neighbors together to solve design problems while working together with planners and engineers in our Department of Public Works. ” said Joanna Davis, City of Lancaster Public Art Manager.
The project is in its early stages and set to develop through the summer of 2021 with the goal to install in early fall. A steering committee consisting of Cabbage Hill residents, arts professionals and a member of the Public Art Advisory Board has begun to meet. The steering committee will help to move the project along by assisting in community outreach efforts, artist selection, and design review.
“Public art has many useful definitions, but for our Lancaster community it needs to involve the public. This intersection [project] at Vine, Mulberry and Strawberry is about the decisions and process through which the art will come to be. It’s an exciting time–so get involved and make your voice heard!” said Mimi Shapiro, City of Lancaster resident, artist, and Steering Committee member.
The artist call can be found here!
The community can send feedback or questions about this project to the project manager Yarlyn Rosario at yrosario@cityoflancasterpa.com.
For additional information about other projects in the Asphalt Art Initiative, visit, https://asphaltart.bloomberg.org/.