MANCHESTER, NH – Anthony M. Williams is a natural artist, and while he could easily be painting fluffy white clouds on canvas in the comfort of his home, he can’t.
He’s too busy trying to create dedicated public art spaces.
Williams is a member of Manchester Arts Commission and on Monday night he’s hoping his pitch to city officials, to dedicate public space for mural art, hits the mark. Public art is about more than aesthetics, says Williams.
It’s a way of reversing the trend of graffiti vandalism and is proven to reduce crime. It’s not magic – unless you consider giving kids some positive attention and redirecting their negative self-expression into something beautiful a bit of magic.
Erica Brooks and I do community outreach at NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire. I am reaching out to see if you might be interested in writing about a mural initiative we have going on the Tree Streets/Center City neighborhood of Manchester. I run a Center City Community Group once a month, and we meet with local police as well as community members to discuss major needs in the area. An ongoing concern was graffiti; we found that buildings riddled with graffiti also had a lot of trash around, and also welcomed illegal activity (along with graffiti), close by. We know it’s a broken window theory. In partnership with Friends of Art Manchester and another local artist, we have started a mural initiative to get art painted on walls that struggle with being tagged often. One artist has completed three murals-one behind Hope Tabernacle Church at 222 Cedar Street, and two on garage doors behind 242 Cedar Street. Two more will be completed for one landlord in particular: one on the Auburn Street side of Dollar Deluxe, and the other on the Central Street side of Two Guys Market. Those murals will be done mid-August. If you are interested, we’d love for you to feature the artists.
