GATEWAYS
TO ORANGE

Did you know that every dollar of National Endowment for the Arts funding leverages $9 of private and public dollars that fuel the cultural economy and generates jobs? That’s because the Arts strengthen the economy – the nonprofit arts industry (which includes The Arts Center) creates economic activity, government revenue and jobs!

The Arts support local business – with attendees at arts events spending $24.60 per person in supplemental spending (meals, babysitters, shopping) – by building revenue for local commerce and the community.

The Arts drive tourism. Arts travelers are ideal tourists, staying longer and spending more to seek out authentic cultural experiences. Arts destinations grow the economy by attracting foreign visitor spending. The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that, between 2003-2015, the percentage of international travelers including “art gallery and museum visits” on their trip grew from 17 to 29 percent, and the share attending “concerts, plays, and musicals” increased from 13 to 16 percent.

Murals are a large painting on a wall or ceiling, indoors or outdoors.  In a world before the Internet and a time when art was primarily a luxury unavailable to everyday citizens, architectural spaces were visible to all and artists like Diego Rivera were hired by governments to use those spaces to tell the stories that those governments wanted to tell.  As part of the New Deal, FDR created an art program in the U.S., hiring artists to “Integrate the fine with the practical arts and, more especially, the arts in general with the daily life of the community.”  Over 200,000 art works were made during this program.  2,500 of these were murals. 

In the 1960’s and ‘70’s, as communities moved from cities to suburbs, the buildings and infrastructure became canvases for community projects and artists who, at first, used these spaces as canvases to express social issues (remember, there was no Internet back then).  As the impact of those works became more and more apparent, murals became less about telling a story and more about the spaces around them – combining architecture and art in a way that celebrates spaces.

Over time contemporary murals became an art form of their own, enlivening more abandoned structures as mural projects spread throughout the country – from large cities to small towns.   In the early 2000s, the Arts Center sponsored a gateway mural here in the Town of Orange, which stood for over a decade and welcomed locals and visitors.  The Gateways to Orange Project pays homage to that first mural.

The Arts Center in Orange provides a facility dedicated to contemporary art, by charter. The classes, gallery shows and activities we sponsor (on our own and with the support of our community partners) both support local art and bring the world of art to our doorstep.  The Arts Center was formed 25 years ago when a group of local residents wanted to bring the arts and arts education to our community – and we look forward continuing to bring programs, art, and artists to Orange, VA for decades to come!

It is our summer project, part of our celebration of our 25th Anniversary since the founding of the Arts Center in Orange. In 2020, we applied for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to honor our history as the sponsor of the first mural in Orange, with 3 new, contemporary murals.

Once we were notified that we had won the grant to fund the project, we identified potential mural locations throughout the Town. What followed were a series of meetings with local property owners. From these conversations, 3 locations were selected and submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts. Each of these locations had to undergo a screening process which included a physical evaluation and a historic review before they were approved. Once approved, the locations were submitted to the Planning Commission for Approval.

Shortly after we received confirmation that we had been awarded the grant, we sent out invitations to artists everywhere to participate, through the local newspaper and regional newspaper articles, on local TV news, and by sharing information about the opportunity directly with local artists. We formed a committee of people who had arts or community backgrounds to help us choose the artists.

Each artist was asked to submit a concept design. These are quick sketches of their vision for one of the mural locations. And they are general concepts, because one of the requirements for the artists was to be willing to get community input and even make changes to their designs based on that input.

We received 24 applications – local artists, regional artists, nationally-known artists and even international artists! From these applications, the committee chose three artists for this project based on the concept, the artist’s experience and the artists philosophies.

That’s okay! Art is subjective., and contemporary art is about conversation. Research shows that the presence of art inspires participation by the community, increased economic activity and more tourism. The blend of traditional topics – like the fox hunting scene or the old Coca-Cola advertisement – with contemporary scenes like the three murals in this project are inviting to people with a wide range of interests.