Imagine your art in Downtown Hendersonville! The community is invited to submit concepts and ideas for a sidewalk mural on 5th Avenue in Downtown Hendersonville in a project funded by an AARP Community Challenge Grant, designed for quick action projects to help communities become more livable for people of all ages. The Friends of Downtown Hendersonville are one of only 244 grantees selected from across all 50 states, Washington D.C, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This project will build the pedestrian connection between the two downtown commercial districts through creative visible sidewalk murals that will be selected and created through an engaged community process.
The City of Hendersonville has made strategic efforts to connect the 7th Avenue and Main Street districts, including a public-private partnership to complete the historic rehabilitation of the award-winning Grey Mill redevelopment workforce housing project that is located along 5th Avenue and serves as an anchor between the districts. Additionally, the Friends of Downtown began the Hendersonville Farmers Market in 2020 on Maple Street, a connection that will serve as a destination at the end of the 5th Avenue Art Route.
“We are thrilled to receive this grant from AARP to create this pedestrian focused art route,” said Hendersonville Mayor Barbara Volk. “This project is a creative way to engage with the community that will bring visibility to the pedestrian corridor connecting Main Street to 7th Avenue. I’m looking forward to all of the creative ideas our community brings during this project and walking along the route when it is completed!”
The community is invited to submit proposals for the project between July 28 and August 10 and there will be opportunities for the community to provide input and participate in the painting of the artwork. The selected artist(s) will be commissioned to design and produce original artwork onsite in the form of a sidewalk mural, a stipend for selected artists will be provided. There are no age restrictions or limit on the number of concepts an individual or group may submit. The top designs will be shared publicly for the community to vote online and at downtown events in August. The mural will then be completed by the artists and volunteers in a community painting day(s) in September.
The proposal application can be found at downtownhendersonville.org.
Prepared by the City of Hendersonville.