THE MURAL PLAYS OF FLINT
The Mural Plays of Flint are no longer installed due to the seasonal nature of Theatrical work and the license rights of the creatives that made them. Their impact, however, lives on and we look forward to the next community to create something similar!
3 REASONS YOU NEED TO SEE THIS
The mural above, by New Orleans based artist CeauxArtwork, was completed in 2019. The mural play that it inspired is titled ‘May Love Fill the Music’ by Hunter Bell and Ebony Vines. The quiet and empty parking lot that hosts this mural in Flint’s CarriageTown district becomes an unsuspecting launching pad for a wild adventure once the play unfolds. An older woman acts as a guide to a much younger space traveler. Together they explore the culture and history of Flint’s Ojibwe people. Many elements of the story were supported by the various details in the mural. The acting and sound design kept me engaged with their journey as they traveled to different eras and experienced various sounds and people of the past. At the moment it ended, I was hooked. I found myself admiring the mural in a new way and it was hard to believe that it existed 3 years before the play was written. I couldn’t wait to find the next mural play and embark on another adventure!
1. YOU WILL BE TRANSPORTED IN WAYS YOU NEVER EXPECTED
The murals were designed to cover empty walls and spaces that were often associated with crime or blight, and to transform these areas into colorful and inspiring spaces that would showcase the community’s creativity and spirit. Beginning in 2022, the Flint Public Art Project began inviting high school students from Carman-Ainsworth to submit original poems,based on murals in the gallery, that would reflect their experiences and perspectives on the community. The poems covered a range of themes, from personal struggles and dreams to social justice and activism. The result is a collection of powerful and poignant pieces that capture the essence of Flint’s youth culture.
2. THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW COLLABORATION BETWEEN MURALS AND PERFORMING ARTS
The ability of Performing Arts to engineer an experience combined with the majestic presence of a mural in the community produces something truly unique. In this new hybrid of art forms, the mural becomes a vehicle for the many talents of script writing, sound design, music, directing, and acting in ways that don’t exist today. On their own, murals are vibrant additions to a community that beautify and inspire. I love how the Mural Plays turn the murals into a stage for a performance. From here, I only see this flourishing in the months and years to come as communities experiment by taking the concept of mural plays further.
3. THE ABILITY TO ACTIVATE AND RE-ACTIVATE SPACES
Another intriguing aspect to all of this is how creativity from the community can now be employed in a public space for the purpose of activation. As I’ve mentioned, the Flint Mural Plays end in August. What happens then? Hopefully new ideas will form, new performances will take shape, and new programming will be added that re-activate the spaces of Flint again and again. If not mural plays, perhaps scavenger hunts? If not scavenger hunts, then maybe some other unique form of entertainment and education that hasn’t been imagined yet? With each new variation, the purpose of the mural is reinforced: to activate, to cause someone to pause and notice, and to inspire people of all ages and backgrounds. This ability to re-activate murals gives us insight into the role that murals can play in a community, and the relationship that community members will have with them as they serve to teach and entertain.
THE FOUR GALLERIES OF THE MURAL PLAYS
The 25 Mural Plays have been divided into four individual galleries in the PixelStix app. If you are in Flint, you will see the Mural Plays group under our Maps or just search for their names, #downtown, #eastside, #carriagetown, or #northside. Both the #downtown and #carriagetown galleries are walk-able but it is advised to tour the #eastside and #northside galleries by car.
TWO WAYS TO EXPERIENCE A MURAL PLAY
1. Launch with Map-Tap
If you Map-Tap any of the Ps on a map it will launch a PixelStix page that allows you to ‘View Content’. This action loads the Mural Play.
Tip:
this Map-Tap feature is perfect for parking your car with a great view of the mural and using the Bluetooth system to listen to the play through your car’s speakers.
2. Touch your phone to the mural plaque
All PixelStix Smart Plaques are equipped with NFC for easy access to it’s content. When you are in front of the mural plaque, open the PixelStix app, tap the large P, and touch your phone to the plaque to load the Mural Play experience.
Tips:
iPhone users: Your NFC scanner is in the nose of your phone
Android users: Your NFC scanner is *usually* in the middle-back of your phone
ABOUT THE FLINT MURAL PLAYS
The performing artists that produced these amazing plays allow their work to be enjoyed for a limited time just like plays on Broadway! The Flint Mural Plays are only available until August 31, of 2021. The Mural Plays are a production of the Flint Repertory Theatre. The murals have been lovingly curated by the Flint Public Art Project over the past 4 years and created by a variety of local, national and international artists. All 180+ murals that makeup the Flint Public Art Project gallery are equipped with PixelStix plaques for learning about the artists and local communities that host them. Time is running out! Go see them before they are gone!
