News

City of Columbia Seeks Artist for ABC Funded Mural Project

By Suzanne Lynch, Director of Marketing and Development –

Columbia Arts District In 2014, the City of Columbia, Tennessee began a project to establish an arts and cultural district downtown. As part of that project, members of the arts council met with firefighters at Columbia Fire Station No. 1 to discuss its plans to produce a mural commemorating the 150 Year Sequential Celebration of the department’s service to the city. As reported by the Columbia Daily Herald, Thad Jablonski, Assistant City Manager said the station stands at the entrance and gateway to the arts district and is a prime location to create a scenic landscape for the district.

The City has recently announced a call to artists for the design and development for the City’s first commissioned mural. The mural will be located at the main gateway to the District at the intersection of S. Garden Street and Carmack Boulevard, on a sculptured, serpentine-shaped wall, combining as a unique display of public art.

The mural will be two sided. The side facing Fire Station No. 1 will commemorate the Columbia Fire Department Sequential. The second side of the mural facing Carmack Boulevard will require the artist to work with a design work group to develop a design proposed to be related to the Columbia Arts District.

Any muralist or artist interested in this transformative project is encouraged to apply. For more information on the project and to submit a proposal, click here.

The City was awarded an FY2017 Arts Build Communities (ABC) Grant to help fund the mural project as it would provide an innovative arts experience to community residents as well as enhance the community’s identity. The ABC grant program is designed to provide support for arts projects that broaden access to arts experience, address community quality of life issues through the arts, or enhance the sustainability of asset-based cultural enterprises.

Applications for the ABC grant program will open on April 1, 2017. To read the guidelines, click here.