ST. LOUIS – If you’ve been seeing murals pop up all around the City of St. Louis area, there’s all a reason behind it.
Last year, the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis was granted close to $1 million in ARPA funds to use by the end of 2026 for a project dedicated towards attracting visitors to the city.
“We had to come up with programs that were efficient, that answered the call to what the public was asking for (in resident surveys), and we also wanted to celebrate the wards,” ARPA for the Arts Project Lead Tracey Morgan said. “What better thing to do than put two murals in each ward?”
With that, the St. Louis Mural Project took off.
Morgan, along with other RAC members, began the selection process of two artists for each St. Louis ward, totaling 28 local artists. Each was granted $34,000, or $68,000 for each ward, to paint a blank-slated wall to encapsulate the history behind the neighborhood while fostering community engagement.
“People come here for arts and culture all the time, so why not learn a little bit more about what we’re about?” Morgan added. “I was at the George Washington Carver House, waiting for Fatou Kane to finish her stenciling, when I saw a man walk past. I guess he was going to work…but he just stopped and looked up at it and the message she had on hers; he just put a smile on his face and kept walking.”
Titles of some murals ranged from “We are empowered” and “Reframing narratives” to “Still standing” or “Oneliner Kaleidescope.” Beyond the stories behind each painting, Morgan said she has also noticed people caring more within the neighborhood.
“We want to beautify the communities…people picking up trash, people driving by and honking, waving, saying they love the murals, people picking up tree limbs,” she noted. “It’s like there’s more respect for the area, and it’s not just the art, but they’re proud of the art.”
With the positive engagement that muralists and the RAC have seen as more murals are sealed with final touches, it brings the desire to continue this opportunity in the future to more empty walls and possibly expand further than the city and bring it into the county.
As the majority of the murals are now completed, Morgan emphasized the importance of this project and what it’s bringing to the future of the community.
Photo courtesy of Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis
“At RAC, we want to continue to put artists to work–we’re advocates for the arts community…we just want to keep that positivity happening because there’s a lot that St. Louis has to offer,” she said. “With all the negative things that are going on, when we have positive projects like this, we continue to strive because it uplifts the community.”
To view the full list of artists and locations of each mural, click here.
Note: This video is from Aug. 1, 2024.
