Community Mural Project

Location: Technical College of the Lowcountry Campus Tunnel under Ribaut Road in Beaufort.

• TCL is the site where the original Mather School was located
• Beaufort is about to receive National Monument recognition for its historical role during Reconstruction after the Civil War.

Concept: Engage the artists of Beaufort County to build and paint a community mural project that exemplifies unity through illustrating the true stories about the history of Beaufort County spanning the periods from discovery to the present day.

Timeline

Phase I

1. Research the history of Beaufort County not just by reading books but also by interviewing people especially those who have lived here a very long time. Ask them to tell their stories about what life was like here. Ask them about what they remember about their grandparents and great-grandparents experiences since the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Movement, etc.
2. Planning and pre-construction drawings
3. Fund raising, sponsorships and media communications.
4. Call for artists, sculptors, writers, poets, musicians, songwriters, architects, engineers, planners, fund- raisers, theater producers, set designers and other creative people interested in being a part of the project.
5. Invite school participation by contacting Beaufort County schools and colleges’ art departments. Do you want to include elementary through college or be more selective?

Phase II

1. Principal artists layout the design concept for the tunnel.
2. Build and install large panels for murals within the tunnel.
3. Appoint a jury panel to select the artwork, sculpture, poetry, stories and audio for the tunnel and walkway.

Phase III

1. Engage our young people. Invite the principals of our schools to ask the artistic students to create works to submit to a jury panel for selection of the artwork to be displayed on the walls of the walkway. Categories include art, poetry, short story, songs with music and lyrics.
2. Incorporate the jury panel’s selections into the project.
3. Organize the artists and others who will be doing the painting, hanging and construction tasks of the project.
4. Painting the tunnel and murals. Building panels or other structures necessary to hang the artwork. Installing an audio feature. Installing the sculpture on pre-selected locations according to the initial layout and plans.
5. Designing and choosing a location for a plaque that includes the names of the participants of the project. Designing another plaque to list the sponsors and large donors.

Phase IV

1. Ceremony to commemorate completion of the Community Mural Project.
2. Invite the media and the community to attend the celebration.
3. All the participants would be invited to come.
4. Plaques with all the artists’ names and the sponsors/large donors’ names would be dedicated at the ceremony. Plaques would have a permanent location on the site.
5. Promote the site to encourage people to come visit