If Detroit inspires you with its artistic potential and you have a flair for the creative, the Eight Mile Boulevard Association is looking for you.

8MBA is seeking a mural artist or artistic team to design and prepare, plan and oversee the installation of a mural for an exterior wall on 7115 W 8 Mile Road.

8MBA is participating again in the Mercedes-Benz Financial Services (MBFS) annual Week of Caring program. During the its Week of Caring, MBFS partners with local nonprofits to provide funding and MBFS employee sweat-equity to complete a community project selected through competitive award.

8MBA’s proposal will commission an exterior mural as part of “ART ON 8,” one of 8MBA’s newest initiatives. The goal of ART ON 8 is to use public art installations to create neighborhood identity, celebrate our unique cultures and shared histories, and strengthen the connections between our communities along the boulevard. ART ON 8 will give residents, visitors, and passersby a reason to slow down.

Here are the basics on the project: 8MBA is seeking a mural artist or artistic team to design and prepare, plan and oversee the installation of a mural for an exterior wall on 7115 W 8 Mile Road. The mural installation will take place on June 20, 2017. The artist(s) will design the mural, complete all mural preparations and create a plan for the MBFS volunteers to paint the mural (a paint-by-numbers type plan, for example).

The artist will also be present to supervise on the day of installation. The mural should consider proximity to Baker’s Keyboard Lounge and Livernois Avenue and should reflect the history and community of 8 Mile. The mural should be suitable for audiences of all ages and be achievable for adult volunteers to execute. Preference will be given to local artists.

The mission of the 8 Mile Boulevard Association is to revitalize and promote 8 Mile as the seam that connects the 13 diverse communities and three counties that border the 27-mile stretch of this historic boulevard, rather than the line that separates them. Eight Mile has served the Metro Detroit area as an important transportation, commercial, industrial, and residential corridor for more than 100 years.

Yet, it has suffered from a reputation as a social and economic dividing line. It came to be thought of as the road to other roads to somewhere else. For more than 20 years, 8MBA has worked to highlight the rich assets of the corridor, focus resources, and forge partnerships between the private and public sectors to elevate 8 Mile.

The goal is to launch a series of murals and artwork that will eventually span the entire 27-mile footprint, celebrating the diversity of cultures, history, struggles, and triumphs along the Boulevard, as well as provide a visual expression of the interconnectedness of local communities.

Although this building is currently being renovated and will be an ideal place for a new business, the space has not yet been leased. A mural and the press that MBFS and 8MBA will generate will help to attract a small business or entrepreneur to the building, as well as customers and tourists to the area, especially once the artwork in Ferndale and Oak Park are completed.

Applications are due 4/24/2017. Please send any questions to 8MBA Executive Director Cindy Thomas at Cindy@eightmile.org.

Photos of last year’s service project — creating raised flower beds — courtesy of 8MBA.

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