The Project | color

Community Mural Project

This project was a two-year collaboration between the House of Neighborly Service (HNS) and Safos Dance Theatre that took place March 2013-March 2015 under the direction of Yvonne Montoya.

Phase I: Commuity Voting on the Mural Theme & Design

March 2013 - March 2014

During phase I, 264 community members from South Tucson voted on the theme and the design of the mobile community mural. Voting took place at events such as the South Tucson Community Health Fair, National Night Out, and at Safos performances and summer arts education residencies.

Graphic Designer Carla Turco created the designs of the mural. Carla and muralist Mel Dominguez traced the winning mural out on pellon and prepared it for community painting.

Phase II: Community Paint Days & Arts Education Residencies

March 2014 - December 2014

In Phase II, 290 community members, ages 0-88 painted the mobile community mural at one of Safos' eight Community Paint Days!

Phase II kicked off with in April 2014 with a fun paint day at Cyclovia! Check out video here! The fun continued at South Tucson’s 2014 National Night Out. We also enjoyed getting to know South Tucson community groups who painted the mural, the John Valenzuela Youth Center, Mission View Elementary Student Council, Our Family Services “La Escuelita” youth program, Our Family Services “Las Comadritas” senior program, and Corazo/n de Tucson, over the past two years. It was an honor to create art with you! And thank you to all the youth and community members who painted the mural at Safos events, the “Color the Mural: Summer Art Camp” and at the Tequila and Art Party.

Phase III: Dancing the Mural

August 2014 - March 2015

Color the Mural Project culminated with Phase III, a site specific dance theater performance at HNS that brought the mobile mural to life. The performance took place March 27+28, 2015. Directed by Yvonne Montoya, the show featured seven pieces of choreogrpahy inspired by the images on the mural. In a sense, the community picked the themes of the dances for the performance.

The show featured youth and senior community members who performed on stage alongside company members and guest artists from California. The four 5th grade boys from Ochoa Elementary School stole the show!