Perhaps the simplest most inexpensive, way to spruce up a house is to hang a few pictures. So why not extend the idea to public streets?
Youth-development organization RiverzEdge Arts Project did just that last week, bringing a 30-foot-by-63-foot mural that complements a larger project to clean up downtown with an aim of attracting visitors, and their wallets.
“What we’re hoping is we will inspire everyone in Woonsocket to see themselves as a caretaker of their community and also to continue to generate public interest, and official interest if you will, in investing in the arts and environmental strategies that promote long-term economic development,” RiverzEdge Executive Director Bekah Greenwald said.
A few liquor stores, small restaurants and many vacant shops surround the mural that looks over a municipal parking lot across from City Hall. Greenwald said the mural grew out of a dual goal of engaging youth while contributing to the economic development of the city.
In theory, a nicer downtown, supported by residents invested in keeping it that way, could massage businesses enough to open up shop and eat away at the empty storefronts. Main Street, Greenwald said, “holds great potential.”
Just like Providence redefined itself as the “Creative City,” Greenwald envisions Woonsocket someday hosting public art throughout town. She points to initiatives like Providence’s WaterFire as a model of how art can inspire a community and boost economic development as well.
“We were asking this larger question, ‘what role does art play in that beautification process?’ ” Greenwald said. A big one, said R.I. State Council on the Arts Public Art Manager Elizabeth Keithline. Among other things, the council manages art included in new or renovated state buildings. State law mandates that at least 1 percent of a project’s budget go toward public art.
Keithline said the council lacks the money to undertake a study that would explore the economic connection between art and economic development. But from anecdotal accounts she knows that visitors – and their money – are drawn to pretty spaces and unique art installations.
A project she is involved in called Providence Art Windows, which creates window displays in downtown areas, has drawn curious onlookers, and the financial support of major companies like Fidelity Investments.
And Blackstone Valley Tourism Council President Bob Billington said public art and beautification goes a long way toward making visitors feel welcome.
“Those that do embrace art in the design of their communities really stand above,” he said. “It makes the casual visitor or business visitor that much more inquisitive about what the community has to offer.”
Billington said there is no magic formula that equates art to buckets of tourist money. A successful project, he said, must first be a good fit for the community and draw the support of residents.
“Visitation will happen because you’ve created such a warm environment of friendly, livable space that visitors can’t stay away,” Billington said.
Back in Woonsocket, city officials were drawn to the mural project and happy to see the wall they painted gray become a colorful array of paint featuring buildings, flowers and people, along with the message, “Keep Woonsocket Beautiful.” Woonsocket Deputy Director of Community Planning Catherine Ady Bell said the mural fits neatly into a collage of efforts to form a consistent atmosphere in the commercial district.
“It’s a positive thing,” Bell said. “I consider murals to be one of those things right in line with the other beautification things we try and do.”
Bell said officials have also found that the public usually respects art initiated by the community and graffiti tends to be less prevalent and community members rally around a cause.
“I think it is just really valuable from that standpoint getting people involved in their community and doing something important in their community,” she said.
But Bell said community beautification projects have suffered lately as municipalities struggle with tight budgets.
“When you have to make cuts unfortunately sometimes those are the first to go,” she said.
The Woonsocket mural project was funded by the Workforce Partnership of Greater Rhode Island as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Bekah said the mural project involved 15 youths that spent seven weeks working with Rhode Island artist Lydia Stein. Bekah said time will be the ultimate judge of the result, but for now she’s hoping visitors slow down and take a peek at Woonsocket’s newest work of art.
“I would like [visitors] to thinks wow, there’s a lot more going on here than I thought,’ she said. “This is really high-end art and this is a community that takes itself seriously, but also has character and spirit and has a vibrant citizenry of all ages that takes pride in where they live.” •
