Shutdown inspires alumni to focus on public art
An artist & arts educator, Alissa Siegal 86 IL has lived in Stamford for the past 20 plus years. During the shutdown, she painted a mural at Stamford Hospital's Bennett Cancer Center. The experience of interacting with patients and staff, and the joy the art brought to people, was so powerful that she decided to focus on public art going forward.
Alissa reached out to the Connecticut non-profit RiseUp for Arts for guidance, and upon learning they were aligned on our commitment to public art and youth mentoring, joined with RiseUp founder Matt Conway to form Stamford Murals. She connected with 2 of her former middle school students, now juniors at Wright Tech HS here in Stamford, and began to meet on a weekly basis to learn about murals and design their own. Their first mural was partially funded by an Artists Respond Grant received from the state as well as by a matching grant from SustainableCT which was accessed by raising donations from the public.
They have just been given another grant by the Stamford Arts & Culture Committee which will allow installation of 2 more murals. In addition to a roster of murals in development, Alissa is about to launch a 10 week educational program at our local Boys & Girls Club which will culminate in a youth designed and installed mural on the front of the building. They are also in planning stages for a pop up art & placemaking min-mural competition and festival here in Stamford which her team of youth artists is helping to plan. They are largely grant funded, and are working to bring more local professional artists and youth artists into their program.
