Indianapolis Art Center and Martindale-Brightwood Youth Program Unveil Community Mural

INDIANAPOLIS (Press Release) - On Saturday, July 30, the third and final mural was unveiled for the Art Center’s 2011 American Scene program. The final site is the Felege Hiywot Center in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood. Twenty kids, ages 8-12, worked over 7 weeks with artist instructors Jude Odell and Tehniyet Hussain to create a mural that connected the American Scene Movement of The Great Depression to the agricultural movement and emergence of urban gardens seen in the Martindale-Brightwood community today. The mural is installed at the Felege Hiywot Center as a public art for all to enjoy. Participants (youth ages 8-12), their families, friends of the Felege Hiywot and the Art Center, as well as esteemed members of the community participated in the ceremony which included the unveiling, an Ethiopian meal, community support, and some words spoken by the students themselves. Participants in the American Scene program at Felege Hiywot Center are enrolled in the Center’s Growing As A Second Generation program, which strengthens the student’s Ethiopian-American identity.

The American Scene program is a public art program for youth ages 8 to 12 who come from underserved areas of Indianapolis. The program directly reflects the 1930’s American Scene movement by allowing participants to depict their surroundings through art. The Art Center sends two artist instructors to a community partner site during the summer to work with up to twenty-five students for a period of 20 contact hours over the summer. The artist team works closely with students to create a work of public art that depicts the students’ view of their surroundings as well as documents their community. The final piece of public art is then displayed at the partner site location for both the youth and neighborhood to view and take pride in. This year’s sites have been Christel House Academy, Stephen Decatur Elementary, and Felege Hiywot. Funding for American Scene is made possible by the following donors through the Summer Youth Program Fund: Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, Lilly Endowment, Inc., and Miller Summer Mission for Children.