Successful 1st Presentation to Arts Commission

Last night we presented our proposal to the city’s arts commission. It was a great meeting, where we were able to share our vision and hopes for our intersection mural project. The arts commission is a group of respected local artists entrusted with helping to bring quality art into the public arena. This group is a great resource for our city, and offered excellent suggestions to improve our project. Their primary suggestion to us was to involve a muralist to help bring our community approved design to scale on the pavement. Between now and our final presentation to the arts commission (in early October), we will be working with this muralist in how to successfully move the awesome design (by Willow) onto the street, where we as a neighborhood can paint together. All in all, we are excited to partner with the city in continuing to achieve our goal of bring neighbors together around cool stuff. Viva comunidad!

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Proposal Submitted!

Our proposal to the city has been submitted! After some great suggestions from Wendy, Michael, and Jeff, we turned our proposal into the Department of Public Works. They then passed it to the Arts Commission. It will be to the Arts Commission that we will give two presentations; the first presentation will be on September 3rd. After the second presentation in October, they will make a recommendation to the mayor.

As we wait for these presentations, we can take a breath and celebrate what we've accomplished thus far: moving a neighborhood desire into action, organizing all the pieces to create a solid proposal, and most importantly gathering together as neighbors and building relationships around a positive project. Here's to an already successful project!

Update From the City

Our intersection project is moving forward! Here's an update: We are now in the city's scheduling. After meeting with city planning, we got the thumbs up from public works. So now we need to enter the process with the Bellingham Arts Commission (BAC). We will present initially with BAC on September 3rd to conceptually discuss the project. Then on October 1st we'll make a final presentation. After they approve it goes to the mayor's desk, and we'll get approval within the week. This means two things: 1) our proposed painting day (Sept. 28th) will not happen, which is a bummer. We'll hopefully paint under a dry clear sky in mid October (pray not for rain), 2) that the city believes this is a viable, repeatable project, which is good news for Bellingham and building neighborhood connections. So, great things are happening. Thanks for your support and work!

We Have a Design!

We are proud to announce that we have a design! At our July 30^th meeting we had a great turn out of diverse neighbors. After two rounds of voting and eighteen designs to choose from, a design by Willow Hughes was chosen. Willow will be a 6^th grader at Fairhaven Middle School in the fall, coming from Larrabee Elementary. Way to go Willow!

The next step is to gather signatures from neighbors, approving of our proposal and the design. Then we will submit our proposal to the city. To help with this, join us on Thursday, August 8^th, from 6pm – 8pm at the Samish School (2113 Harris Ave.) for a potluck BBQ. Will show off the design, eat and visit together, and provide opportunities to look at and sign the proposal. So grab a friend and some food, and join us!

Here’s to our great neighborhood and doing cool things together!

Let's Decide on a Design Together, July 30th

It's time to gather as neighbors and decide on the intersection mural design we're going to submit to the city. Join us at the Samish School (2113 Harris Ave.) on Tuesday July 30th at 6pm. We'll look at the designs that were submitted, then together vote on our design. Light refreshments will be provided.

There is still time to submit a design. Print off the template, fill in your awesome design, and drop it off at the Firehouse PAC (1314 Harris Ave.). See you soon!

Time to Design

We are in the design stage of the Happy Valley Community Crossroads. By "we" I mean ALL of us. Print off the sketch of 22nd and Harris (below) and draw/color in a possible image for the street. Submit your design to the Firehouse Cafe (1314 Harris Ave.). In late-July we'll gather as a neighborhood and decide together the design we will submit to the city. Everyone is welcome to submit a design (young, old, artist, doodler, whoever!). So join us, submit a design, tell a friend, submit another design, and look out for information on our next meeting in July! Have fun!