As Toledo continues to fight its blight problem, Art Corner Toledo (ACT) continues to help in the battle by investing, planning and executing murals throughout the city.
For 2015, murals are planned at four different blank walls meant to help revitalize the neighborhoods in which they appear.
ACT will hold four public meetings, one at each location, to gather public input on what type of mural the community would like to see.
“We find that when we do put a mural in otherwise neglected neighborhoods, it beautifies and revitalizes and gets the neighborhood to realize they can invest in their own space,” said ACT founder Rachel Richardson.
Richardson said ACT has not hired any artists yet or decided on any designs for the murals, but will gather community input and go from there.
Community members are invited to attend the following meetings add their voices to the discussion: 5:30 p.m. Jan. 8 at Lighthouse Landing, 4441 N. Summit St., in Point Place; 5:30 p.m. Jan. 15 at Seed Coworking, 25 S. St. Clair St.; 5:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at the West Toledo Branch Library, 1320 Sylvania Ave.; and 5:30 p.m. Jan. 22 at Mad Ave Collective, 1600 Madison Ave.
The murals are made possible by funds provided by the city and county.
Toledo City Council passed a measure this year to spend $15,000 on murals for the city. That money matched $15,000 offered by Lucas County, with all funding going to ACT.
“Murals are a great way to capture the heart of a neighborhood and express it visually,” Councilwoman Lindsay Webb has said. “It’s a part of developing and identifying and dealing with blight.”
In another project, two railroad bridges on Bancroft Street will be covered, with a mural on each side of the two bridges. Richardson plans a public call to artists in February through a contest from which the top four designs will be selected. The winning designs will be chosen by Councilman Tyrone Riley.
The idea is to have the phrase “Toledo Alive!” incorporated into the murals.
The Collingwood Arts Center has been supporting ACT by providing space for muralists to paint on panels that are later installed at locations around the city. The help is allowing artists to work outside the normal season.
“We can paint them all throughout the year,” Richardson said.
ACT was founded in 2010 with a mission to promote Toledo as a socially conscious city and began creating murals to illustrate that, Richardson said. So far, the organization has completed 20 murals.
“An abandoned lot or a building gets developed in the wake of one of our murals,” Richardson said.
