CHAT Brings “The Gulfton Story Trail” Mural Project to Houston
NEWS RELEASE
Gulfton Area Nonprofit Partners with Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and Houston Arts Alliance to Bring New Mural Project to Houston
12 Story Trail Murals to Highlight Gulfton’s Rich History and Diversity
This year, Culture of Health – Advancing Together (CHAT) – a local nonprofit organization in the Gulfton area of Houston – has partnered with the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and the Houston Arts Alliance to bring to Houston a series of 12 new murals highlighting the international diversity and cultural history of the Gulfton area. The series titled The Gulfton Story Trail is part of a pilot program ‘Visit My Neighborhood’ embarked under Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Complete Communities Initiative, that was launched last year.
The Complete Communities Initiative is designed to revitalize Houston’s under-resourced communities, including the Gulfton area, through partnerships with existing neighborhood residents. CHAT worked with the Houston Arts Alliance and Mayor’s office of Cultural Affairs to commission The Gulfton Story Trail project under the Visit My Neighborhood arts program of this initiative.
“Gulfton, more than any other area of Houston, is the first place many new Houstonians call home when they first arrive to the city. It is culturally rich, multilingual, multicultural, and boasts a long history of welcoming newcomers to our city,” said Dr. Aisha Siddiqui, Founding Director at CHAT. “Our stories are not often shared, and this project allows us to begin bringing some of those stories to light. We are extremely proud of what The Gulfton Story Trail will mean for our community.”
To complete The Gulfton Story Trail project CHAT elicited the participation of the Gulfton area community through a poetry writing competition. The selected poetry submissions were provided to local artists who used the winning entries as inspiration for their mural creations.
The 12 murals that are part of The Gulfton Story Trail are currently under development and will be completed during the months of October and November.
Artists commissioned to complete these works of art include Alex Arzu, Jesse De Leon, Sylvia Blanco, Lindsay Burck, Vivienne Dang, Jesus Sanchez, Deanna Santiago, Natalia Victoria and Eliud Zavala. Once completed, The Gulfton Story Trail is expected to attract over 10,000 visitors annually.
Each of The Gulfton Story Trail murals will be located in the Gulfton community.
For information about CHAT and The Gulfton Story Trail project visit:https://chattx.org/
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About CHAT
CHAT is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization located in the Gulfton area of Houston dedicated to fostering the health and well-being of immigrant and refugee communities through education, arts, advocacy, and access to care. With a multifaceted approach targeting the social determinants of health through support, networking, and community engagement, CHAT is able to improve immigrant and refugee health and well-being by reducing isolation, facilitating acculturation, and connecting resources unlike any other existing organization in Houston.