J Muzacz, Carmen Rangel and Genevieve Levicki will hold weekly mosaic open studio workshops offered for free to the community to develop skills in community and public art mural design and mosaic fabrication and installation. We will host workshops throughout the three-month period July-September, including an East Austin mosaic tour, and a mural unveiling reception celebration at the end of the program.

This opportunity fulfills a need for affordable and accessible creative space for long-time residents of the area from teens to adults. Artists of color are frequently pushed out of their studios and performance spaces as systemic gentrification changes the access to resources and the social fabric of an area by economically forcing communities elsewhere. By subsidizing the space and access to supplies and experts in the field, we are aiming to provide training as well as a permanent public landmark as historical preservation for the existing yet fading demographics.

And with our diverse backgrounds including a collective 10+ years teaching and working as entrepreneurs in creative fields, we feel strongly that we as a team can offer valuable skills and insights into art-making and creative expression for and with diverse communities, as well as hands-on experience community organizing, and modeling a sustainable livelihood as professional creatives through working together with a common, shared goal.