In an effort to make students feel more welcome and acknowledged on campus, Long Beach City College is commissioning its first-ever outdoor mural. Artists are invited to submit an application of interest by April 14 at 5 p.m. if they want their work to be immortalized on the LBCC Liberal Arts Campus.
The mural will be 18 feet in height and 15 feet in length, with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, and located on the Student Resource Building M. LBCC’s Strategic Plan that was created in 2022 identified those four ideas as main goals for the college to pursue.
“Currently LBCC really looks … It has beautiful Spanish architecture and beautiful gardens, but it really doesn’t have anything where it really feels like it’s for students,” said Karla Aguíñiga, art gallery and exhibitions manager for LBCC. “So having art on campus would create a sense of identity, it would create a sense of belonging but it’s also really enriching for students to have an experience with art on a daily basis.”
There is $30,000 set aside for the creation of the mural, which includes money for the artist stipend, materials and installation. The mural is expected to be unveiled on Aug. 25, 2023, though the date may change.
Funding for the mural came from a $1 million allocation from the president’s office. LBCC received a $30 million grant from the McKenzie Scott Foundation in June 2021, which was distributed to various departments to use as they see fit.
Several working groups have been established, comprising students and faculty from each department and diverse backgrounds to advocate for what they think the LBCC community needs.
The LBCC Public Arts Advisory met with several student groups including the Native American Student Alliance, the Latinx Student Union, the Black Student Union, disabled students and Asian Pacific Islander students. Each group was made up of 15 students.
“From all of those, every group kept saying, ‘I don’t want this to be about me and my experience.’ They wanted it to be about everyone,” Aguíńiga said. “They wanted to see something that would make them happy when they are walking by or something that would make them feel inspired.”
Common themes among most of the groups include mental health, nature and symbolism.
Aguíńiga said that the next step for LBCC to beautify its campus is to purchase art or sculptures to have in public spaces and eventually, commission an even larger mural. Ideally, the art installed would have connections to the space it’s in, such as paint dripping on a canvas in the physics department.
Submissions must include an artist’s statement, letter of interest, list of qualifications and an example of a previously completed project on time and on a budget. The top five finalists will be chosen by a committee of five students and five faculty members.
“We thought it would be a good experience for students to be involved and to have their opinion be heard and they’re a big part of how we’ve shaped a lot of decision-making,” Aguíńiga said.
The final five artists will receive $1,000 to create an original proposal, and the top three will be voted on by students and stakeholders to make the final decision.
“That’s going to be a little bit of a long process for how we’re gonna get our finalists, but it’s also really important because this is like the pilot project,” Anuíńiga said. “So we really want community buy-in on how we’re going to build this project.”
The only requirement for artists is that they must be at least 18 years old, though artists who have experience working with underrepresented communities will be strongly considered. Artists who have a strong connection to Southern California and the Long Beach region will also be strongly considered.
To enter an application of interest for the LBCC Liberal Arts Campus mural, visit https://lbcc.edu/pod/opportunities.
3 comments
Comments are closed.