Creative Placemaking Project

Main photo_Creative Collective for Beyond Walls

Beyond Walls Mural Festival

Lynn, Massachusetts

Since 2017, Beyond Walls has hosted the Beyond Walls Mural Festival, a two-week long festival that brings renowned artists from all over the world to install large-scale murals in and around Lynn, Massachusetts.

Located just north of Boston on the Atlantic Ocean, Lynn, was once a thriving manufacturing center. It was dubbed the “shoe-making capital of the world” in 1885, but as production began to decline and eventually moved elsewhere, Lynn, like many cities, was left with large industrial buildings and the need for new economic opportunities. The Mural Festival is one way the residents in Lynn are responding to that need.

Beyond Walls is a creative placemaking nonprofit that works to activate spaces to strengthen communities. They work in a variety of mediums and take a creative lens to address community shared challenges in the built environment. The organization’s work centers around partnering with artists to create public art that reflects the cultural identities of the communities they serve. Beyond Walls’ aim has been to increase foot traffic in downtown Lynn, improve public safety and redefine the city’s cultural identity.

The Mural Festivals are now one of Beyond Walls’ flagship programs. Some of the artists who have participated include:

Sam Worthington from the United Kingdom painted Jan Ernst Matzeliger, the son of a Dutch engineer and a Surinamese black woman, who invented a machine that shaped shoes.
Damaris Cruz, who graduated from the University of Puerto Rico, painted a four-story building with yellow paint and pieces of ripped paper from Yellow Pages books.
Artists Yu-Baba and Key Detail, who are originally from Belarus, painted two portraits of beautiful mermaids under the water.

Beyond Walls worked with the local business community to allow the installations of the murals on downtown buildings. Through their outreach efforts, they have gained the trust of their community and city government for their creative placemaking work. In the Mural Festival’s first year it engaged 20 artists to complete 15 large-scale murals and attracted more than 5,000 visitors and 4.5 million social media impressions. Since that first festival in 2017, the Murals Festival has generated widespread interest and become a source of local pride.

Impacts

People and dollars came downtown. In 2019, Beyond Walls surveyed 199 residents, both online and in person, to gauge the festival’s impact in the community. Many respondents reported coming to the mural festival at the time the artists were painting their installations, and not just after the mural was completed. The majority of spending by attendees went to local restaurants, followed by retail and then festival merchandise. Of the attendees surveyed, the vast majority agreed that the festival improved the reputation, safety, and desirability to live in or visit downtown Lynn in the future.

Increased positive media attention. The 2019 festival received extensive media and social media coverage, including a front-page piece in the Boston Globe about the importance of arts and placemaking. Promotion on social media was also a priority for festival organizers. Specifically, Instagram was a priority platform and by far the most effective place to promote the events and engage with both artists and festival attendees.

Created opportunity for young people. In 2019, Beyond Walls engaged ten interns from Lynn’s local high schools to help staff the event. Interns were paid and ranged in age from 16-21. In addition to the interns, Beyond Walls formed partnerships with local youth-serving groups through unique and specific partnerships and involved 300 kids and teens throughout the festival. They also lead youth tours through downtown Lynn during the Festival.

Lessons Learned

Art should reflect community context. It was imperative for the local organizers that the art and artists reflect the diversity of the people who call Lynn home. For example, Lynn has a fairly sizable Cambodian population and so including an installation from a Cambodian artist was important.
Structure community meetings and follow through. Planning meetings were demographically, socioeconomically, and culturally diverse in their makeup and were well attended. Beyond Walls was able to convene a team that wanted to roll up their sleeves and were willing to connect their networks to support the project. Those kinds of folks usually thrive in projects that can track progress and remain accountable, and these meetings provided that environment.
Art is an emotional process. Community members feel strongly about selecting artists and pieces of art. There were some strong emotions when selecting artists, but Beyond Walls adopted a “look through the windshield, not through the rearview mirror” policy. It helped to have the group’s trust in the plan to go beyond emotions and focus on their goal.

Property Type: Commercial Structure
Project Type/ New Use: Art – Large Scale (e.g. Sculpture; mural), Event(s)
Project Purpose: Improve walkability; Improve safety; Revitalize Downtown
Duration: Permanent

Initial Cost: Over $250,000
Funding Source: Philanthropic; In kind services

Organization Type: Nonprofit - Arts and Culture
Implementation Partners: Artist(s); Trade Groups; Local businesses
City: Lynn
State: Massachusetts
Community Type: Urban

Project Website: Beyond Walls >
Social: Facebook >
Press: In Lynn, Massachusetts, a Public Art and Lighting Initiative…>; Our Favorite Street Art …>

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Last updated: October 2021 – Do you have additional information about this project? Please use the share your placemaking project form » to share that information.

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