In today’s Washington Post, Reporter Martin Ricard examines the confluence of public art and spray-painting graffiti. Our friends and clients, Albus Cavus, have a vision of harnessing the creative power of graffiti to transform public spaces with art. From the story:

But on this day, spray-painting graffiti on public property, an act that would have been against the law any other time, was all good. It was part of a “mural jam,” a city-sponsored project that drew dozens of graffiti artists to contribute their flair to a nearly 1,000-foot-long wall turned canvas in Northeast’s Edgewood community.

The goal of the project is to beautify the city and dissuade youths from engaging in illegal graffiti. But it represents a broader shift in thinking among the city’s political and art establishments, which are beginning to learn how to coexist with a graffiti culture that has thrived for years.

“We decided that just painting over [graffiti] with one color was not the answer,” said Gloria Nauden, executive director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which authorized the murals. “You have to embrace them as artists, give them freedom. It’s about the respect and allowance of not being defined.”

Read it all here: Project Brings Graffiti Art Out of the Dark

young woman participates in Mural Jam on 8/15

This story covers the Edgewood Mural Jam, organized by Albus Cavus, to extend a new public mural. Over the last eight weeks in DC, artists Decoy, Quest Skinner, Pose 2, Chor Boogie and Joshua Mays have been leading a group of young people from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Summer Youth Employment Program to develop, design, and create a mural for the DC community. “From Edgewood to the Edge of the World” is the anchor art piece that reflects the souls of the artists and invites the public to imagine a new world. The Edgewood Mural Jam will doubled the size of public art piece in one day as 100 artists contributed their art. The mural walls are visible from the Rhode Island WMATA metro station on the Red Line and along the new Metropolitan Branch Trail.

Murals DC is back for 2009. Please contact the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities for more information: http://www.dcarts.dc.gov/dcarts/site/default.asp

- Sarah Massey

Over the years, Massey Media has worked closely with Project Vote, an organization that works to ensure that every eligible American citizen who wishes to vote can do so. Part of Project Vote’s work involves getting people onto the voter rolls, but another part involves making sure that states and the federal government are complying with the laws they pass that govern voting rights.

The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) is popularly known as the “motor-voter” law because it mandates that voter registration cards must be made available at federal offices that provide services to citizens, including your friendly Motor Vehicle Administration offices. Thousands if not millions have made it onto the voter rolls this way. I myself have lived in and registered to vote in five successive states at the MVA while I got my new driver’s license. Other public agencies required to provide voter registration cards include social services. If you apply for welfare or for Medicare, the office should also have voter registration cards available. It’s a small step that could make a big difference in the proportion of low-income and minority voters — if it were implemented.

a new report on NVRA at 15 years old

Unfortunately, some states have been reluctant (at best) to implement this part of the NVRA. Lack of oversight and accountability, and the fact that many staff have never learned that they are required to provide the forms, have led Project Vote to issue advisories to many states. The organization made headlines early this month when it had to sue New Mexico and Indiana to try and ensure that these states come into compliance with national law!

If the NVRA were fully implemented, Project Vote estimates that two or three million voters could be added to the rolls per year. These voters would be primarily minorities and low-income citizens, who often are not targeted in voter registration drives. These two groups are notoriously underrepresented in the electorate. The law exists to correct this imbalance, so that the electorate can more fully reflect the general population. Entrenched interests — and simple inertia — are working against implementation of the NVRA. We hope that the Department of Justice will make it one of their priorities to ensure that as many citizens as possible get on the voting rolls, and the simplest way to start that process is to make states follow the law!

- Janaki Spickard-Keeler

* Media Advisory for August 15, 2009 *

100 Artists to Paint Live DC’s Largest Public Art Mural on August 15
Community Invited to Edgewood Mural Jam

(Washington, DC) – The capital’s largest public art event is happening this Saturday, from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM with over 100 muralists, artists, and the public painting a wall larger than a football field in the Edgewood neighborhood in Northeast.

The Edgewood Mural Jam is sponsored by the public art non-profit Albus Cavus and the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities, Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), Liquitex, Beacon House, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and the Rhode Island Avenue Shopping Center.

The event is for all ages and will feature kids activities, good food, a community area for everyone who comes to pick up a brush and paint, and there will be DJs with music for entertainment.

What: Edgewood Mural Jam
Who: 100 public artists and the community painting a wall bigger than a football field
Where: Rhode Island Avenue Shopping Center, 680 Rhode Island Ave NE (behind the stores), next to Rhode Island WMATA Station on Red Line
When: Saturday, August 15, 10:00 am to 8:00 PM

The DC community is invited to participate in the largest interactive public art event of the summer by meeting the artists, watching them work, and picking up a paintbrush to join in.

Artist Quest Skinner

Over the last eight weeks in DC, artists Decoy, Quest Skinner, Pose 2, Chor Boogie and Joshua Mays have been leading a group of young people from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Summer Youth Employment Program to develop, design, and create a mural for the DC community. “From Edgewood to the Edge of the World” is the anchor art piece that reflects the souls of the artists and invites the public to imagine a new world. The Edgewood Mural Jam will nearly double the size of public art piece in one day as 100 artists have been invited to contribute their art. The mural walls are visible from the Rhode Island WMATA metro station on the Red Line and along the new Metropolitan Branch Trail.

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PHOTO OP: 100 artists live painting at once

For more information about the Edgewood mural project, please see http://createpublicartdc.ning.com/

(Washington, DC, August 5, 2009) - You are invited to come out and watch the District’s largest public mural take shape. The Edgewood mural project team has started painting the 275-foot long wall that’s two-stories high. Over the next 10 days, artists and DC youth will cover a wall space that is larger than a football field with a public art piece called “From Edgewood to the Edge of the World.” The project and the resulting art seeks to reflect its home community of Edgewood and be a window into the souls of the artists.

The Edgewood mural project is sponsored by the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities and the DC Mayor Office’s Summer Youth Employment Program, and directed by public arts non-profit Albus Cavus. The mural wall is located along the new Metropolitan Branch Trail for cyclists and walkers and visible from the WMATA Rhode Island metro stop. What was a grey retainer wall will be transformed into a beautiful creation.

Come to the mural site and be a part of the action. Seriously.

Leon Rainbow, "I want you to paint."

Drawing in visitors fills in the vision of public art to create spaces where people come together and interact with the art. The quality of open space affects how walkable and safe neighborhoods are for residents. Public art can promote creativity, healthy spaces; and, in the case of the Edgewood Mural, it will promote healthy bodies. “From Edgewood to the Edge of the World” connects art and health, because it’s located along the new Metropolitan Branch Trail for cyclists, joggers, walkers, and families.

The new Metropolitan Branch Trail will connect all parts of DC from Union Station to Silver Spring, Maryland. The trail will bring visitors, residents, and commuters together, serving as a recreational opportunity and an alternative transportation route. Weaving through parks, major roadways and revitalized urban zones, the new trail will take visitors past major landmarks and a significant piece of public art. “The Edgewood mural will not only be a beautiful aesthetic addition to the trail, but it will draw people to the trail to look at the mural,” says Heather Deutsch, Bicycle Program Specialist/Trail Planner, Transportation, Policy and Planning Administration, District Department of Transportation.

“The current reality of public urban spaces, many times, is bleak, unsafe, ugly, and covered with litter,” says Peter Krsko, Director of Albus Cavus. “Public art changes how residents spend time in public spaces. They meet at public art, they take care of the space, communities hold events next to the art and draw people into social interactions. While we create engaging art for people to enjoy, an additional result is safer, cleaner, and more enjoyable urban spaces.”

On August 15, the public is invited to participate in and view a mural jam for local artists to contribute their work and extend the mural down the sprawling wall to the street. The event invites the community to learn and appreciate the artwork and will feature live music, deejays, giveaways and an artist market.

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To view more background on the Edgewood Mural process and photos, please visit: http://createpublicartdc.ning.com

For photos or interviews, please call 202 518 6186

Additional sponsors: Rhode Island Avenue Shopping Center and Beacon House