Rural Action | Arts and Cultural Heritage

Marketing the Community Mural
An excerpt from Community Murals: Handbook & Case Studies
A Rural Action Community Toolbox Book
by Amy Lipka and Steven McDaniel

A community mural is a collective creative expression of community pride, a source of learning, and a way to establish a positive community identity. After the completion of the mural, it doesn't have to be left as simply a visual piece.

The mural can be animated through the use of drama, music and historical interpretation. This way the mural will serve not only as art on its own, but it becomes a springboard to other artistic forms. A mural can use the historic aspect of the pictorials to launch community theater, as in one notable project, the Trimble Township Mural. The production, called Painted Memories, utilized images from the mural to create the theme for the theater piece. Since the mural was a history-based project, the play was a period-piece with costume and dialogue from the past.

The writer-producer of the play had slides shot of the mural and used them as visual backdrop storylines to the play.

Another project might train young people to write poetry and short stories to match specific imagery of the mural. The youth would not only learn about their local history, but they would also experience another medium of the arts. This twofold approach, and more, can be applied in various ways depending on your creativity and imagination.

The point is that the project does not have to end with a completed painting on a wall; the mural can be kept alive once it is done. Local storytellers, musicians and dramatists can be asked to interpret the history gathered and the visual art of the mural through performances at local festivals and events. The mural becomes the focus for ongoing living history, and community members can remain actively involved with the mural for years to come.

The Pomeroy Mural Experience
by Karin Johnson, Meigs County Tourism Director

On August 13, 1999 the Meigs-Mason Heritage Mural was dedicated in Pomeroy, Ohio. During the dedication ceremony various speakers commented about the process of bringing the mural to Pomeroy and the hard work that went into its creation.

When the ceremony ended one would have thought that the story of the mural would have ended there. For after all isn't it just a public work of art designed for visitors to the community to enjoy as they pass through town?

Well, yes and no. For the casual passerby perhaps it is just a pretty picture painted on a wall, but for the residents of Meigs County, Ohio and Mason County, West Virginia it is much more. It is the story of who they are.

The mural is divided into four distinct panels that tell the tale of their heritage and culture, like four windowpanes reflecting into their past. The vitality that art can infuse into a community was apparent in this project; because the mural's story did not end with its dedication ceremony, instead it began there.

Immediately upon the revealing of the mural, residents and tourists alike became intrigued by its imagery. People wanted all sorts of information about its content and the process involved in its creation. As a way of disseminating this information the Meigs County Tourism Office developed a brochure, which is displayed at various locations throughout Meigs and Mason Counties and is given out to tourists as part of Meigs County's visitor information packet.

For people who like to read perhaps the brochure did suffice but it was soon discovered that people wanted to be more interactive with the mural. They wanted to have their photo taken in front of it and some of them, especially school children, wanted to hear the mural's story told to them. With this in mind the mural was added to Pomeroy's Victorian Walking Tour of its historic downtown area.

As a featured highlight of the tour now, not only do visitors hear the mural's story told aloud, but they can also have their photo taken in front of it with an authentically costumed tour guide, who is wearing the period dress that the early settlers may have worn when they were living the stories depicted in the mural. Recently, when Governor Bob Taft and his wife Hope visited Meigs County, they partook of the Victorian Walking Tour and viewed the mural as part of their journey through Meigs County's history.

With so many people stopping by the mural and taking photographs, it seemed like the logical next step was to create a postcard of the mural so visitors who hadn't brought a camera with them would be able to purchase a keepsake of their experience.

Plans are also underway to make the mural's location more attractive by developing a small park across the street with benches where the public could sit and enjoy the mural on their lunch hour. Mural Park will house the Brewery Arch Stone, one of the subjects of the architectural panel of the mural and a key element in the mural's arch shaped design. Hopefully other ideas for utilizing the mural as a tourism tool, integrated into the framework of daily life in Meigs County, will develop with the passage of time. The Meigs County Tourism Office already has plans underway to put the mural on a tee shirt and/or tote bag as a souvenir of the area.

The story of the Meigs-Mason Heritage Mural is certain to continue for a long time to come. The mural will surely touch many people's lives and some of them may leave their own handprint on the future of the mural as they think of new and different ideas to incorporate the mural into their own projects and plans for tomorrow. --K.J.

A marketing concept that Rural Action has developed is the idea of a "Mural Corridor." While individual murals offer important gifts to a community, a "mural corridor" jointly markets a series of community murals to increase the visibility of the project and the communities involved.

It gives communities an opportunity to share and understand their history and realize their historic connection to the region and other similar communities. Developing a marketing plan that gives a regional face to these community projects helps individual communities collectively celebrate their own unique mural while sharing resources and increasing economic development potential through heritage tourism.

People from mural communities within a certain region can join together to develop a marketing plan as well as set up guidelines for future mural communities. Quality control, help with funding, maintenance, local contact, marketing and publicity and legalities can all be addressed by the corridor committee.

Linking mural communities through heritage tourism on a route that highlights the murals can generate new levels of involvement and pride in local culture and history as well as economic opportunities. Attracting tourists into the area to share in the rich heritage depicted in these community murals is a low-impact alternative to development that would otherwise disrupt the natural beauty of the region, destroying the authentic sense of place that is desirable to preserve.

While visiting the murals, visitors will be encouraged to eat in local establishments and shop in local stores as a way to support the local economy.

To order a copy of the book, download a printable orderform and mail along with your check or MasterCard/VISA information to:
Rural Action, PO Box 157, Trimble, OH 45782

For more information on the publication, mural workshops, or Rural Action's Arts and Cultural Heritage Program call 800-351-5074 or write raarts@ruralaction.org