Years: 2021
Placemaking Week 2021
Activating Spaces | Placemaking | Beautification | Legacy Building
Working with community partners, KCCI organized an engaging week of hands-on community building, legacy building, and innovative social events. It was an incredible few weeks of creativity, art, collaboration and ideas that all enhanced sense of place in Tallahassee.
2021 Events Included:
Brushstrokes for Books
On Friday, Sept. 24
Leon County Government and KCCI kicked off this year’s Placemaking Week with the Brushstrokes for Books community mural painting and beautification event at the LeRoy Collins Leon County Main Library. Painted with assistance from muralist Cosby Hayes, the 2021 KCCI Community Catalysts, and hundreds of community volunteers, the mural is located along the 285-foot retaining wall at the Call Street entrance of the Main Library. The mural beautifies the entrance, welcomes visitors to the space and helps enhance the County’s sense of place by adding new public art to the community. Other activities included creating cards for healthcare workers, story time with Hermione Granger, picking up trash in the surrounding area, and covering up graffiti at the nearby at Au Peche Mignon which the Downtown Improvement Authority helped coordinate. Thank you to Sherwin-Williams for donating the paint and to all the volunteers that attended and beautified the area. Read the media release here and click here to see more images. This event ended up being featured in Leon County Government’s 2022-23 annual report as an exceptional example of community collaboration.
Murals | Beautification | Camaraderie | Live Painting
Step & See
Tuesday, Sept. 28
A diverse group came to discover diverse downtown art, hear from local artists, and enjoy lunch, bubby and sweets at Lemoyne Art Gallery in the courtyard. The tour began at the “Happy Kitties” Art of the Box by the main library and wove under majestic oaks, through Chain of Parks, and throughout downtown Tallahassee. The tour was led by KCCI Catalyst Marie Moyle and Catalyst and artist Dan Taylor. To see more pictures click HERE or read more HERE.
Walking Tour | Picnic | History | Outdoor Art
Makerspace Masterpieces
Wednesday, Sept. 29
The sound of laughter and the feeling of creativity filled the air at the Makerspace Masterpiece event. The Creative Academics program at the Market District’s Gilchrist Elementary School hosted a “pop-up shop” outside of Tasty Pastry Bakery on Market Street. Guests brought their creativity and turned trash into treasure. It was the perfect way to exercise your right brain! Read more, HERE.
Live Art | Education | Inspiration
Painting the Future
All week attendees brought art supplies to support the students at John G. Riley and Bond Elementary Schools by donating new art supplies. Target also donated $150 in art supplies for the students. See pictures and read more about the donations HERE that inspire and help prepare the next generations of Tallahassee -Leon County artists.
Community Service | Engagement | Collaboration
Murals at Nims Middle School
Artists Matt Shanaghan and Cosby Martin Hayes added five colorful murals at Nims middle school. Artist and welder Matt Shanaghan artistically improved the schools community spaces by developing a design based off classic graffiti B-Boy characters from the break dancing graffiti culture. In the 1970’s B-boying, a sub-set of Hip Hop Culture, created an environment that centered on street dance performance, and created one of the most artistic forms of its time. Cosby Martin Hayes was invited by Matt to collaborate and painted the Trojan icon, representative of the school mascot. As part of the KCCI 2021 Community Catalyst project goal to create more public art, KCCI’s 2021 Catalyst team coordinated for Title 1 Schools to provide the funding for this art project. To see more pictures, click HERE.
Entrepreneurship | Beautification | Live Art
Artful Infrastructure Unveiled
As part of the City of Tallahassee’s Artful Infrastructure Program, new public art installations on traffic control boxes are underway during KCCI’s 3rd Annual Placemaking Week. The colorful program, found throughout the City, expands on “Art of the Box,” a successful pilot program between the City of Tallahassee and KCCI, to enhance streetscapes and bring art outdoors into our community. The KCCI 2021 Community Catalyst team was excited that the City of Tallahassee Commission unanimously approved the City’s Artful Infrastructure Program concept in April 2021, which paved the way for more artistic infrastructure projects like the boxes that are going up around the City. A beautiful way to feature local artwork while abating graffiti.
Painting with a Purpose
KCCI helped facilitate making a “Greetings from TLH” mural come to life in Market District. This live painting event was led by Maclay School art students under the leadership of professional muralist and art teacher Sarah Painter. The mural is sponsored by the Market District Association and other businesses. Come check it out – it might be your new backdrop for the perfect selfie. Learn more about Sarah Painter at www.sarahpainterart.com and follow the Maclay Fine Arts on Instagram @MaclayFineArts. Follow the Market District on Instagram @marketdistricttally. For more details about the mural coming to life, click here.
Culture | Beautification | Live Art
