An artist commissioned by Up Art Studio paints a mini-mural on a traffic control box.
Houston’s Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and UP Art Studio has announced the Mini Murals Program Artist Registry 2021. Since it began in 2015, the the program has paid local artists more than $300,000, and will now accept applications year-round and conduct quarterly reviews for commissions.
The program, managed by UP Art Studio, commissions artists to paint murals on traffic signal control cabinets across Texas cities and neighborhoods with funding from The City of Houston and management districts.
“Together with our clients, we are so happy we can provide income to artists through our Mini Murals Program,” says UP Art Studio principal Elia Quiles. Adds Noah Quiles, UP Art Studio principal: “The pandemic has hit artists hard, and we are grateful to our wonderful clients for funding programs that allowed us to pay artists in 2020.”
An artist commissioned by Up Art Studio paints a mini-mural.
“The Mini-Murals program has livened our urban landscape with art and has created opportunities for emerging artists to hone their craft through an investment in their creative services — their artmaking,” says Debbie McNulty, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs in Houston. “We’ve seen that this has helped to launch the early creative careers of artists who have since gone on to pursue public projects on a larger scale.”
Says Mini Murals artist Anat Ronen: “I have been in the program since the very beginning. Currently, I do just a handful of Mini Murals a year and enjoy seeing new artists come along with new brilliant designs and executions. I love this project for two main reasons. First, the initiative employs a large number of artists for a large number of boxes. Second, the initiative brings art to parts of town otherwise not having any.”
For information on how to apply to be on the registry, and for more information about Up Art, please visit the Mini Murals website’s artist information page here.
