Last week, the First City Mural Fest released its Request for Qualifications for its upcoming pilot mural celebration. The pilot mural celebration will be held Saturday, Nov. 5, at Emerald Republic Brewing Company, 1414 West Government Street, Pensacola.
The festival jurors will selectmuralists from the Pensacola area to paint panels at Emerald Republic. The RFQ was issued on Sept. 20, and responses are due on October 5th. Interested artists can find the RFQ at www.firstcitymuralfest.com.
The First City Mural Fest was organized by a group of community leaders and local muralists who believe that murals can add to the beauty of Pensacola, promote public art, and attract visitors. During its pilot phase, it will be working under the umbrella of the First City Arts Center.
“During the launch of ArtVenture Pensacola, we found that Pensacola is home to a fantastic variety of murals and that we have an active Pensacola Muralists Society,” Holly Benson said. “We saw this as a way to celebrate what we have and to add to the art in our city.”
Mural festivals have become an annual event in many larger cities around the world and attract both talented artists and tourists.
“We had Dylan Nadsady paint murals on the brewery because we believed it created a special atmosphere,” Josh Cooper, Taproom Manager for Emerald Republic, said. “We have been pleased to see the number of murals in our neighborhood growing and are happy to be part of this event.”
“First City Arts Center is committed to promoting arts in this community and has had a number of local muralists paint buildings on our campus,” Bart Hudson, Executive Director, said. “Of course, we wanted to be part of getting this event launched.”
