Inside the Overpass Phase One

On May 11 a group of more than 22 youth and adults from the 29th Street area presented our “Inside the Overpass” proposal to the City Public Art Design Review Committee at the Tucson Pima Arts Council 100 N. Stone in the 1st floor Conference Room. It was a really exciting moment for all of us as students, parents and neighbors fielded questions about the project and our efforts to use the arts to build a healthy and vibrant neighborhood environment through arts and service projects. This was the first time for any of us in presenting to such a distinguished body representing all of Tucson.

This was also our first joint field trip with Our Family Services youth from Shelby’s group and Mannuel’s Video Club from Freedom Park. This is really exciting because we have more than 30 youth in the programs combined, all of whom are involved in making the 29^th Street corridor a better place.

• "These images are a reflections of our hearts." Marianna

The panel was very supportive, asking many questions. There were several highlights to the presentation that came when asked about graffiti. One was when Marianna talked of how these images were coming from the students’ hearts, and reflected their passion for community. Her mom then spoke of the impact this was having in the community at large, and how her kids were influencing other kids. “There is a lot of talk about this project in the school, the kids working on this are really popular and setting a positive example that other kids are starting to respond to.”

Thank you to Alvernon Heights Neighborhood Association for providing us a letter of support for our presentation, and to everyone for making this a great community building moment.

In mid June clean up will begin on the overpass, and we expect the fist mural images to go up by the end of the month.

Phase two of the project will kick off on September 11 with a Day of Service where we will be painting he handrails of the overpass.