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Malvern, IA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Public art installations

Description: The community of Malvern is an art hub for the region, but several spaces in the town were underutilized and aesthetically unappealing for residents and visitors. Golden Hills Resource Conservation and Development improved two public corridors, allowing people to gather there. The Wabash Trace Corridor now boasts upcycled metal art panels. Additionally, artists and volunteers transformed an underutilized alley on the east side of Main Street into Malvern's Art Alley. The Art Alley -- which connects Malvern's downtown -- features murals on fences, garage doors and the backs of buildings. An interactive map includes a QR code, which links to a website showing the locations of each piece of public art.

Henderson, NC

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021

Project Category: Public art installations

Description: The Flint Hill Kittrell Vance Community Development Corporation hoped to help foster economic development in Henderson's Flint Hill neighborhood, a low-income community. To create a sense of place there, the CDC created the Henderson Art Walk. First, volunteers worked to install murals and crosswalk art reflecting the area's history and culture. Local youth also took part in an oral history project, recording stories from their elders. A local website hosts an archive of the stories, along with photos of local public art installations. Then the CDC launched its walking tour, which highlights local Black history and culture. The walk leads visitors past local galleries and museums, as well as murals and crosswalk art. One mural honors Ben E. King, a Henderson native best known for writing and performing the song Stand by Me. The success of this placemaking project has inspired similar efforts in nearby communities and has spurred the CDC to create more public art.

Bismarck, ND

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Public art installations

Description: This project will host community paint parties, where residents will create a mural inside a pedestrian tunnel along the local trail system. The tunnel is currently uninviting and feels unsafe, in part due to vandalism.

Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects

Frederiksted, VI

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022

Project Category: Community Gardens

Description: This project repaired damage to the historic Orchid House at the Garden by replacing the ridgepole and rafters, shade cloth and grillwork on the front of the building. It also updated the irrigation system.

Frederiksted, VI

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023

Project Category: Trails

Description: This project will improve the Adventure Nature Trail with new features, including a restored pavilion, benches and picnic tables, and signs identifying tree species and describing the area's history.

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