The Barrio Centro Association and Tucson Arts Brigade invite the entire community to celebrate the unveiling of the Barrio Centro Community Mural on Saturday, June 18th from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at Lucky Wishbone, 2712 E. 22nd Street. Join us for this free, fun-filled family event with food, music, speakers and performances. Trio Centrál will be playing Latin Jazz and Serenata will be playing Ranchera and Bolleros.
The Barrio Centro Community Mural Project is sponsored by the Tucson
Arts Brigade and is the latest release of the Tucson Mural Arts
Program. This beautiful and colorful mural depicts the stories and
memories of Barrio Centro neighbors that were gathered over the past
year and a half. Many scenes of neighborhood social life and history
including music, baseball and the railroad are on a cement block wall
that spans 176 feet long, and varies in height from 4 to 6 feet. A
mural planning and design team included Barrio Centro area residents,
Howenstine Magnet High School students and their art teacher, Tempest
Alabi-Isama, and Josh Jacobsen, owner of the Lucky Wishbone restaurant
who worked with Michael Schwartz, Executive Director of the Tucson
Arts Brigade and Lead Artist/Educator in a year-long series of
workshops that included presentations, field trips and lessons on
mural making and history.
“This mural reinforces our commonalities,” said German Quiroga,
President of the Barrio Centro Association. The workshops included
Elder Shares, meetings, and Community Paint Days which involved more
than 100 neighborhood residents, and created a sense of pride,
ownership, and a personal connection to the mural. “Graffiti
abatement has always been one of our goals and it is my belief that we
as a community must engage our youth in worthwhile activities to steer
them away from non-productive ones. Each life we touch makes our
community a better place,” said Quiroga. The Barrio Centro Community
Mural Project has been a great way to engage local youth in a positive
neighborhood beautification project that can be admired by all of
Tucson.
