#yycLCL June 2019
Crescent Heights is typically known for the beautiful view overlooking the downtown skyline or the community that Calgarians drive in and out of the core on (Centre Street). But for the past two years, Crescent Heights Community Association (@chcayyc) has taken steps to engage their residents around arts and cultural activities in order to tackle community issues such as crime, isolation, community pride, and vibrancy.
The community has even gone so far to hire a local artist, Kevin Jesuino (@kevinjesuino), as its Community Engagement Coordinator. This radical and unprecedented step in hiring an artist to tackle the complexity of community engagement has helped transform Crescent Heights into a far more connected and vibrant neighbourhood through the past two years of community-lead and focused programming.
One of the initiatives lead by Jesuino is the Crescent Heights Village Days Festival, a month-long festival organized by volunteer residents who host a number of community gatherings that help residents encounter different spaces and meet other residents in the neighbourhood.
The creativity of events range from a bike rave, a community water fight, a picnic in the park, different placemaking activities, and for the first time this year, with generous sponsorship from Alberta Traffic Safety, the festival was able to support the painting of five intersection murals in the neighbourhood.
The image you see above was one of the first intersection murals the community painted this summer at the corner of 8th Ave. and 1st St. NE. Lead by a volunteer resident, Chandra Thomas, she, like all other intersection mural project leads, engaged her neighbours in supporting a design and in helping to paint this image.
The image itself was designed by Calgarian artist Dean Stanton. The other four murals will have their own volunteer resident project leads and a paid artist.
All murals will be completed by the end of the summer at:
- 3rd Ave. & 1st St. NE
- 7th Ave. & 1st St. NE
- 8th Ave. & 1st St. NE
- 13th Ave. & 1st St. NE
- 13th Ave. & 1A St. NE
A community that is living a creative life, Crescent Heights Community Association connects through programs, events, and advocacy. For more information, visit crescentheightsyyc.ca or follow the Crescent Heights Community Association on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
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