Here's how NOTO mural will honor history after NEA awards $40,000 grant
NOTO Arts and Entertainment District recently announced its approval for $40,000 awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts for a Grants for Arts Projects.
The grant will allow for a new mural painting on the N. Kansas Avenue Bridge in Topeka.
Outgoing Thomas Underwood, NOTO executive director, said the NEA Award will make a significant contribution to the vision of expanding the NOTO area.
"For years we have been driving an effort to further develop the Veterans Park area in a way that will serve the neighborhood while also telling the story of NOTO through art," Underwood said.
NEA chair Maria Rosario Jackson said such projects as the story of NOTO exemplify the creativity and care in which communities are telling their stories and creating connections while responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities through art.
What is there to know about the mural project?
The focus of this project is to create a collection of murals on the underpart of the N. Kansas Avenue Bridge running through Veterans Park, a NOTO release said.
The murals will represent area history, such as the railroad and the Oregon Trail, and highlight the people and communities that have helped form the modern day NOTO.
The bridge offers surface area to display murals with 12 sets of three piers topped by large caps and the underside of its exterior overhangs. Portions low to the ground will serve as a mural platform for the community, such as students from the local elementary school, to continue telling NOTO's story.
"The project will also include installing a walking path to connect visitors to the murals and join the two halves of the park that are split by the Kansas Ave Bridge," the release said. "The path is part of a larger development initiative funded in part by a City of Topeka grant received by the Historic North Topeka East Neighborhood Improvement Association, and funds from Shawnee County Parks and Recreation."
Transitional areas not used for storytelling will be painted in the NOTO logo colors with a wave design, invoking the nearby Kansas River while tying the murals to the district at large.
The best of yesterday and today is featured at this new shop in Topeka's NOTO district
The NEA will award more than 1,100 grants for arts projects
“So many aspects of our communities, such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, and the economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit,” Rosario Jackson said.
The NEA will award 1,135 Grants for Arts Projects awards totaling more than $37 million as part of its second round of fiscal year 2024 grants.
For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
Keishera Lately is the business reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. She can be reached at klately@cjonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @Lately_KT.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topeka's NOTO Arts and Entertainment District awarded $40,000 by NEA
