Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel announced the city’s support of the Evansville Murals Project in January. The project will establish a public art program in downtown Evansville involving USI students and area youths, celebrating the history of southwestern Indiana.

Hilary Braysmith, associate professor of art history, is director of the Evansville Murals Project. She plans to model the project after the mural youth intervention program created by UCLA art professor Judy Baca. Baca founded the first City of Los Angeles mural program, which produced more than 250 murals and hired more than 2,000 participants in its
10 years of operation. She was keynote speaker at USI’s first RISC Showcase in 2002, at which she discussed muralism and community development.

“Judy Baca’s first mural installation in the midwest will be in Evansville,” Braysmith said. “In August, she will set up our program and train local staff to use the mural process to build leadership, collaboration, and citizenship skills among the youth participants. The Evansville murals will reflect this community and its history.”

Baca said, “I am very excited about working in the nation’s heartland for the first time and look forward to helping Evansville – a place with an extraordinarily rich history – establish a mural program that will create sites of public memory for its citizens.”

Following the selection guidelines established by Baca and Vanderburgh County Juvenile Court Judge Brett J. Niemeier, Patchwork Central and the Evansville African American Museum will each select two youths for the program. A total of 20 youths and eight USI student mentors will participate in the first year of the program.

The city will contribute $100,000 from the Capital Development Fund in the form of a one-to-three challenge grant to assist private fund-raising efforts over the next two years. Another $300,000 in private monies will be raised for the project.

The project will operate as an outreach program through Extended Services. The Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana will be the fiscal sponsor and will receive tax-deductible pledges and contributions designated for "Evansville Murals Project."