The St. Louis Mural Project is bringing 28 new murals to St. Louis.
More than 30 local artists painted two murals in every city ward as part of the large-scale project, which was funded by $1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds and managed by the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis.
The public art highlights each ward’s history and is meant to encourage economic growth through art-centered tourism, said Tracey Morgan, who serves as the ARPA for the Arts lead with the Regional Arts Commission.
“Our goal is to have tourism explode over this. People come to St. Louis from all over to take part in our arts and culture environment, in our communities. So we felt like [the murals] would just be an extra component to that," Morgan said.
Many of the murals are painted on the walls of local businesses. Some are in community spaces like Bustani Ya Upenda garden in Ward 10, which includes Forest Park and neighborhoods just north of it. Artist Mwazacarol and her daughter Miiyaya Adero each painted murals on a shed in the garden.
“Not only is it beautifying the building, but it's also … giving artists a chance to show who they are and what they can do,” Mwazacarol said.
For more about the role of public art in beautifying a neighborhood and to hear from three artists about their murals, listen to full St. Louis on the Air conversation on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube, or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Ulaa Kuziez, Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Roshae Hemmings is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
