Granby, CO

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Public art installations

Description: Granby hosted the RKY MTN WALLS street art festival, Grand County's first ever mural festival. Over seven days, Denver-based artists created eight massive murals on Main Street, which celebrate the area's diversity and culture. The festival also featured cornhole competitions, face painting and opportunities to create art on canvasses provided by event organizers. Following the festival, residents formed a public art committee to continue promoting community art.

North Hero, VT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Public art installations

Description: In a rural town where isolation is common among older adults, the library created an outdoor space to foster connection and creativity. It installed a circular word garden with etched stones and ADA-compliant benches, complemented by raised beds. A kickoff event drew residents to arrange words into poems and phrases. The garden is now a permanent feature that brings grandparents and grandchildren together. As one visitor said, "My niece didn't even want to come to the library, but after playing with the word garden, she doesn't want to leave."

Henderson, NV

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Public art installations

Description: As part of efforts to revitalize the Army Street corridor, the City of Henderson commissioned murals to decorate concrete benches along a pedestrian thoroughfare. The City hoped the 12 colorful benches would draw visitors to downtown businesses, including the Purple Penguin Snowcone Shack and City Lights Art Gallery. Today, the murals offer pedestrians -- and other visitors to the Downtown Senior Center -- a popular spot to snap a photo or sit down and rest. Project organizers say the art installations also sparked the City to develop its Arts and Culture Master Plan. And in the years since, funding for public art in Henderson has increased, resulting in 10 new mural installations.