City of Santa Fe Launches Mayor’s Mural Initiative

Mayor Michael Garcia and the City of Santa Fe Arts & Culture Department today announced the Mayor's Mural Initiative, a new citywide effort to expand opportunities for artists, support mural-making and invite residents to help shape the stories represented in Santa Fe's public spaces.

The initiative begins with a simple idea: Every wall begins with a story.

Murals and public art are often among the first things people point to when describing what makes a city or neighborhood a desirable place to live, visit and build community. Public art can help create a sense of identity and pride, reflect the character of a neighborhood, and transform everyday spaces into places where people feel connected.

For Santa Fe, a city with a long-standing reputation as an arts and cultural destination, public art also provides an opportunity to reflect the people and stories that make up the community today.

"Art has a way of bringing people into a community and making sure they see themselves as part of it," Mayor Michael Garcia said. "When we make space for different voices, experiences and cultures in our public spaces, we make our city more inclusive. Santa Fe is an arts city, and this initiative is about making sure that identity belongs to everyone."

Rather than approaching murals as stand-alone projects, the Mayor's Mural Initiative will connect public art with artist development, community participation and creative experimentation. Through workshops, conversations, artist opportunities and new commissions, the City will create multiple ways for Santa Feans to participate in the development of public art.

The Arts & Culture Department is already laying the groundwork for the initiative by identifying potential mural locations throughout Santa Fe, including walls, parks, trails and other public spaces. Projects may include permanent murals, temporary and rotating works, artist collaborations and experimental projects.

The department has issued a call for artists, with submissions due Nov. 15.

The City also is working with organizations such as A Las de Aguas on the Southside to reactivate the free wall at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center, providing muralists with a space to practice, experiment and create.

Additionally, 222 Chingona Crew, a partnership between longtime muralists and artists Samantha Chavez and Jessica Ortiz, will lead a mural workshop Oct. 8-11. The workshop will provide artists with an opportunity to learn about and participate in the evolving practice of mural-making while launching the

Mural Lab

Mural Lab will provide opportunities for established artists to share knowledge with emerging and local artists while strengthening the skills, relationships and creative networks needed to sustain mural-making in Santa Fe.

"Murals are the visible outcome, but the larger opportunity is what happens before the paint reaches the wall," said JenJoy Roybal, assistant director of the Arts & Culture Department and lead for the initiative. "We want to create a process that begins with artists, people, stories and place. Mural Lab gives us room to listen, experiment, build skills and create stronger connections between artists and the communities where public art lives."

Art on the Street

The Mayor's Mural Initiative will extend beyond traditional walls to explore how art can become part of Santa Fe's streets and transportation network.

Through an Asphalt Art component of the initiative, the City will explore opportunities for artists and community groups to create large-scale artworks on streets, intersections, crosswalks, pedestrian spaces and other transportation infrastructure.

Asphalt art projects can do more than add color to a street. Cities around the country have used artist-designed roadway treatments to help define public spaces, engage residents and encourage safer streets. Research on asphalt art projects supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies has found reductions in crashes and speeding and increases in drivers yielding to pedestrians.

For Santa Fe, the opportunity is to bring together artists, residents and transportation professionals to identify locations where art can strengthen neighborhood identity while supporting the City's broader goals for safer, more welcoming public spaces.

Potential projects could include painted intersections, artistic crosswalks, painted pedestrian areas, neighborhood gateways and other creative treatments of city streets. Projects will be developed in coordination with the appropriate City departments to ensure they meet transportation, accessibility, maintenance and safety requirements.

The City will invite artists and community partners to help identify potential locations and develop concepts for future Asphalt Art projects.

"Some of the most important public spaces in a city are the ones we move through every day," Garcia said. "Our streets belong to all of us. When we bring artists and communities into the process of imagining those spaces, we can make them safer, more welcoming and more reflective of the people who call Santa Fe home."

A Citywide Community Canvas

Community participation will be central to the Mayor's Mural Initiative.

Residents will be invited to share their experiences and perspectives on memory, identity, belonging and place through Mural Lab workshops, public events and future engagement opportunities.

Questions such as "What story deserves a wall?" and "What place changed your life?" will help begin conversations that can inform future projects while creating a record of how residents experience and understand Santa Fe.

The initiative is part of the City of Santa Fe's broader effort to reenergize its Art in Public Places Program and expand opportunities for artists and residents to participate in shaping public spaces.

"This is not simply about decorating Santa Fe," Roybal said. "It is about recognizing art as part of civic life and giving artists and communities meaningful ways to contribute to the evolving story of this city."

Information about Mural Lab workshops, artist opportunities, upcoming projects, community participation and completed murals will be available through the City of Santa Fe Arts & Culture Department.

Current Call for Muralists

Art in Public Spaces

Press Contact:

Peter Olson

(505)819-1062

JenJoy Roybal, Assistant Director, Artist Contact

Arts & Culture Department

505-231-8399

[email protected]