Cumberland Garden Community Mural Project Comes to Light
Urban Housing Solutions, Nashville, TN was recently awarded the TN Arts Commission new Creative Placemaking Grant for $8,000 to fund the Cumberland Garden Community Mural Project
From Suzanne Lynch, Director of Marketing and Communications —
The Tennessee Arts Commission congratulates Urban Housing Solutions of Nashville, TN and all of the project participants for a successful completion of the community mural, To Love A City. This public art project partnered neighborhood school children with Tennessee State University(TSU) arts students and community members in the creation of a nearly 400 ft x 5 ft mural at the corner of 26th Avenue North and Clarksville Pike in North Nashville. Led by experienced muralist Sterling Goller-Brown, the mural project was intended to help students experience and value artistic self-expression in the design phase, while the finished product serves as a symbol of inclusive revitalization in the neglected and disinvested neighborhood in which it was created.
Now the largest community mural in Nashville, To Love A City truly celebrates the creative community in North Nashville with the theme of home, city and community. It features poetry by students written three nearby Metro Nashville Public Schools: Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet Elementary School, John Early Museum Magnet Middle School and Pearl Cohn Entertainment Magnet High School and chosen for the project by the community. As part of the project, each school hosted a poetry workshop led by Southern Word. A committee of community members then selected the student written poetry best invoking the mural’s theme to inspire the mural’s design. The chosen poems were also recited by the student authors at the mural’s grand opening on October 23, along with students from TSU, and Vanderbilt University.
Both the name and theme—home, city and community— of To Love A City are inspired by the life work of Reverend Bill Barnes. He is a key advocate in Nashville for affordable housing and community development and has been such a critical force that a book, the mural’s namesake, has been written chronicling the work Rev. Barnes has done and continues to do on behalf of the city.
The location of the mural also represents the revitalization occurring in the neighborhood and city at large. The site at 2121 26th Avenue North was previously a deteriorating apartment complex known as a blight to the neighborhood. Urban Housing Solutions, with significant contribution from the Barnes Affordable Housing Trust Fund, other public and private funds, and city officials, is beginning construction on the 4.7-acre property to transform it into 23-units of permanent affordable housing. Having a mural representing community progress and unity adds significantly to the spirit of the affordable housing project.
The mural was one of only twelve projects funded by the Arts Commission’s Creative Placemaking Grant Program. In this competitive program’s inaugural year, over 40 applications from across the state were received. Additional support for the To Love A City mural was given by the Metro Arts Commission’s THRIVE micro-funding program. Home Depot of Briley Parkway and Sherwin Williams of Nashville also donated materials.
