Grab your paint brushes

Grab your paint brushes. We will provide the paint. Buffalo Mural Arts Program invites the community to come and leave a legacy behind in Buffalo’s Most Famous Public Market.

Starting at 1pm on June, 28, 2008 in the rear parking lot of the Broadway Market will be fun for the whole community. There will be theme baskets, raffles, food, games and fun for the kids, a glass blowing demonstration by Cass Glass, and a Tae Kwon Do stunt show by Master Khechen’s School of Tae Kwon Do.

This will be the beginning installation of Buffalo Mural Arts Program 2nd mural in the Fillmore District. The concept for this mural, which will be an interior mural in the Broadway Market, was conceptualized by Buffalo artist, Catherine Parker. The theme is “Faces of Broadway- Fillmore.” We invite the community to come out and paint their faces and leave their “mark” inside of Buffalo’s Broadway Market.

The first mural which will be a visual display of art will be located on the Western side of 1105 Broadway by artist Erik Minter. This mural is entitled “ B-lo Looks Up” truly a sign of the hardships Buffalo has gone through and the current synergy in the area to make this a great place for history, culture, and the future. The murals will be bright, in an area filled with blight. Adjacent to the mural will be an ongoing beautification project with a community garden to improve the overall aesthetics of Broadway.

As with any project, there is a need of ongoing funding to maintain and continue the works of the organization. Buffalo Murals Arts Program is non-profit organization under the umbrella of the B.E.S.T. Community Association. We are working to revitalize the Broadway Fillmore, building by building. Through the Mural Arts Program, we DREAM and HOPE to provide future generations a sense of our neighborhoods past, while instilling a sense of civic pride, and offering a creative outlet for our residents, and educate our local youth about the creative arts.

This summer we plan on increasing and revitalizing the green space in the areas surrounding the murals in an effort to create an eco-friendly environment. Studies have shown that murals often serve as an indicator of a neighborhood that has the ingredients to create revitalization, including a diverse population and a strong civic life. To the extent that murals serve as an expression of that transformation, we can say that they have an impact in stabilizing and sustaining processes of community revitalization and economic development. Other cities (such as Austin, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco) have created mural programs that have not only increased revenue for local businesses, but also increased tourists and residents alike to their region. However, we cannot possibly sustain a future without community, organization, and individual support from a vast sector of individuals and businesses.

If you can either donate a product to be raffled off, would like to volunteer, or maybe even contribute to the mural. As in the words of our own Goo Goo Dolls, Broadway is dark tonight but with a little less conversation and a little more action…we can turn on the light. For questions please call Kim Moore (716) 572-7026 or Aniela Baj (716) 479-2342.