Community Mural Initiative Makes Over North Long Beach

North Long Beach has officially kicked off its second Creative Corridor Challenge in order to further the creative community’s presence on the city’s streets. The first Corridor Challenge, which began in the fall of 2015, was a huge success and led to seven different murals transforming the streets of North Long Beach. Now, the ninth district is creating a new wave of art for its community members to enjoy.

Mural by Katie Phillips, initial Creative Corridor Challenge

Katie Philips’ mural faces a schoolyard

What Is Long Beach’s Creative Corridor Challenge?
The event officially kicked off in October and will bring a brand new mural to the area, each month, through spring 2018, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram. The murals aim to bring new energy and excitement to the city. Each mural will be a community effort, where the muralists will work with volunteers from local schools and neighborhoods on the design and painting; additionally, constituents are encouraged to share what kinds of murals they’d like to see in order to help drive the decision around each month’s new piece.

Mural by Marcel “Sel” Blanco, initial Creative Corridor Challenge. The mural encourages
onlookers to “Dream.”

Murals have recently played a large role in Long Beach’s community development. In fact, just this past July, the city celebrated its 3rd annual Pow! Wow! Long Beach! arts festival, in which twenty different large scale murals were created across the city in an effort to beautify Long Beach and remedy blight and tagging. The Corridor Challenge shares a very similar goal. Long Beach Vice Mayor and Ninth District Councilman Rex Richardson stated that “We want to turn spaces that people try to avoid looking at — spaces that are tagged with graffiti again and again — and turn that blight into a focal point.Residents and art lovers alike are invited to participate in the official tour of all seven murals will take place this spring.

Creating Murals With Dunn-Edwards Paints
At Dunn-Edwards we know the power public art, like murals, holds. It is the reason why we proudly support the work of vibrant artist like Eric Vozzola, Mer Young, Steph Rager and other muralists looking to leave their communities more beautiful, colorful, and inspiring than they found them.

All photography by STRUKTR Studios