SHINE Mural Festival

Bait & Switch/Vitale Bros. 301 20th St. S., St. Petersburg

Photos by Edel Mohr

ARTivism is coming in Sea Walls: St. Petersburg

BY MARCIA BIGGS

Have no fear, mural fans, the beloved annual SHINE Mural Festival will be back this fall, a bit downsized but promising to bring 10 new magnificent murals to the downtown area. The sixth annual SHINE Mural Festival will nurture a partnership with Hawaii-based PangeaSeed Foundation and their Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans project. The non-profit PangeaSeed Foundation spreads the message of ocean conservation via murals around the globe – currently there are more than 400 murals in 17 countries.

“Now, more than ever, we recognize the critical need to nurture the arts, celebrate our reconnection to the environment and use art as a unifying force,” said a press release by the St. Pete Arts Alliance, the organizing entity.

All 10 of the murals in this year’s festival will tackle diff erent marine-related issues that coastal communities such as St. Pete are currently dealing with from the impact of single-use plastics on marine life to climate change and pollution degrading the oceans.

“Our mission is to inspire the next generation to be ocean stewards,” says Tré Packard, founder and executive director of PangeaSeed Foundation. Packard will work with event associate director Jenee Priebe and the Arts Alliance Shine team in the selection of a diverse and inclusive group of Tampa Bay and Florida artists.

In years past, up to 22 artists and teams from around the world were selected to create murals. This year, with a cut in state arts funding, organizers are keeping it local (or at least statewide) with fewer murals and home-grown talent, said Priebe. Earlier this year, Gov. DeSantis eliminated grant funding which would have provided $75,000, one-third of the SHINE 2020 budget. COVID concerns have also played into the downsizing of the festival, virtually eliminating the parties and social events that took place in previous years.

“Normally we would do a lot of community interaction at the mural site – fi lms, panel discussions, interact with school groups,” says Packard. “Youth outreach is a huge part of what we do. But we’re not doing social events now. Instead we are going virtual.” A Bright Spot mural is planned collaborating with local youth, he added.

The 8th Funky Fish Town/Plastic Birdie 756 28th St. S., St. Petersburg

Packard is planning to utilize Facebook Live during the festival, he says, which will provide real-time viewing of the mural painting, interviews with artists, and opportunities to promote the cause of ocean awareness to a broad audience. He’s also working with the Suncoast Surfrider group to organize a beach cleanup.

The highly anticipated SHINE festivals have resulted in more than 90 murals around downtown St. Pete, with the city now touted in the tourism and travel industry as a “City of the Arts.” Audio and video tours have been created for some of the murals, including a new Drive-In Mural Tour created by PixelStix specifically for COVID times.

This year’s ocean theme collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) which funded two murals - Portland artists Blaine Fontana and Jeremy Nichols (aka Plastic Birdie) explored the practice of fish farming in The 8th Funky Fish Town and the Vitale Bros. Bait & Switch.

As in previous years, the festival relies on donations, contributions, grants and other funding to pay for paint, lighting equipment, food and water, and stipends for each artist, says Priebe. Sponsors are still being sought.

Visit https://www.facebook. com/shineonstpete for developing news or contact festival director Janee Priebe at jenee@ stpeteartsalliance.org or (813) 426-4305.

Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans

This magnificent domed cultural center in the Mexican city of Santiago de Querétaro was completely wrapped in murals in 2018. It is entitled “El Baile Del Agua”./ Photo by Yoshi Yanagita

Convenience Consequence was painted in 2018 in Cairns, Australia by Fuzeillear. / Photo by Yoshi Yanagita

Drive-In Mural Tour

Enjoy a tour of more than 80 Shine murals in the airconditioned comfort of your own car with the new Shine Drive-In Mural Theater available on your smartphone through a free PixelStix app. Download the app, pack a picnic and take a cruise around downtown. With one exception, all murals in this map are paired together so that you can enjoy two murals at one parking site. Walkers can tap a small plaque on each mural with their smartphone that will take them to videos and background info on each. To learn more, go to www.stpeteartsalliance.org/shine-mural-festival

Diarchy / Bekky Beukes 1100 1st Avenue N. St. Petersburg