First City Mural Fest
Inaugural Mural Fest Celebration Kicks off in Pensacola By Morgan Cole
Nine local artists were recently selected to participate in a new public art project called the First City Mural Fest. First City Mural Fest grew out of a convergence of people who are passionate about art and Pensacola. Three groups came together and decided that Pensacola ought to celebrate the murals that already exist in our community and add to the city’s as well. The first group included Pensacola leaders who launched ArtVenturePensacola.com, which includes an inventory of public art and its location within our community. While putting together this project, they discovered numerous beautiful murals to include. Around this time, the number of talented muralists in the city had also grown, so the muralists came together and formed the Pensacola Muralists group. “During the launch of ArtVenture Pensacola, we found that Pensacola is home to a fantastic variety of murals and that we have an active Pensacola Muralists Society right here in our city,” Founder of ArtVenture Pensacola, Holly Benson said.
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After garnering support from the local community, a number of business owners in Pensacola’s historic Tanyard Neighborhood had also decided to invest in some beautiful murals for their buildings. These groups met and the creative sparks flew. From there, the idea for the First City Mural Fest came to life. During its pilot program phase, it will be working under the umbrella of the First City Arts Center. In late September the First City Mural Fest released its Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for its pilot mural celebration to be held November 5 at Emerald Republic Brewing Company at 1414 West Government Street in downtown Pensacola. During the two-week RFQ period, local muralists were invited to submit their concepts and work samples that went along with the mural fest submission theme of “Pensacola’s Hidden Treasures.” “We had some really great responses and wanted to make sure that the theme harnesses something other than the standard symbols or icons of Pensacola, but something that these artists have found that makes this city really special to them, so there was a very wide range in the types of submissions received and it’s nice to discover, again, all of the reasons people love this community,” Benson explained.
