About The Putnam County Mural Project: 

The Putnam County Mural Project (PCMP) is an all-volunteer team of arts, education, tourism, business, and nonprofit professionals who see the value of arts and community. ​Established in 2019, the PCMP committee's first project became one of Indiana's largest murals located in Greencastle. This ambitious undertaking brought internationally recognized artist Key Detail to Greencastle to paint the silos of the S&W Feed Center at the intersection of Veterans Highway and U.S. 231. The Greencastle silos have become a key attraction in Putnam County and continue to receive recognition across the state and throughout the Midwest. A focus on creative placemaking and meaningful arts-engagement resulted in a project that received both state and national attention. In 2022, the committee embarked on their first county-wide mural festival successfully culminating in the creation of 6 new murals throughout Putnam County.  

 

About the Greencastle Bicentennial Mural: 

The City of Greencastle will partner with the Putnam County Mural Project to honor the city’s Bicentennial this year by commissioning a mural at the corner of Indiana and Franklin streets in downtown Greencastle, IN. The mural will celebrate the people, places, ideas, themes, etc., that help tell the story of Greencastle's past, present, and future.  

 

“We are thrilled about the opportunity to bring another mural to Greencastle, and one that celebrates our town’s storied history,” said Mayor Bill Dory. “While we know we can’t tell every important story in our past on one wall, this is one way we can creatively tell our history to visitors and residents alike.”

 

We believe murals have the ability to transform communities by celebrating heritage, creating civic pride, and enriching lives through participatory art-making. This is best accomplished when murals are used to activate spaces in areas that are otherwise overlooked.

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Our past work engaged the public by hosting workshops & presentations for community members interested in learning about murals and their positive effect on neighborhoods. We invited community members to vote on their preferred style and content of future murals all of which the PCMP team will be utilizing as input into the creative works that encompass and inform the artist chosen for this year’s mural. Additionally, with this wall’s focus being the Greencastle Bicentennial, we engaged a number of individuals throughout our community to sit on a Historical Ideation Committee. This committee’s primary charge was to pinpoint the people, places, and things in Greencastle past, present, and future that tell the story of our town. Through this process, we learned that our community prioritizes imagery that celebrates the nature of our county and the assets our county consistently promotes (music and historic architecture, to name a few.) More specific details garnered from the Historical Ideation Committee will be shared with the selected artist for inclusion in the design for this year’s mural.

 

The chosen artist will be asked to work in tandem with the PCMP team in order to produce work that is reflective of and responsive to the Putnam County community and our processes for this particular mural. The Greencastle Bicentennial chosen muralist will be required to sign a contract that outlines the needs and responsibilities of their work leading up to and throughout the project itself. The timeline below outlines important due dates throughout the process. The Putnam County Mural Project provides a stipend to the chosen artist, outlined below, and will provide the wall prep, lift needs, and wall sealing. The artist is responsible for covering their own materials, paints, housing, and food throughout the run of the project. Artists will be required to provide proof of materials purchased by date listed below in order to ensure arrival on time for the project. Artists will also be expected to help the PCMP generate awareness about this project and their work through their own website/social channels. PCMP will reserve the right to use images of in-progress works and final work for their own promotional purposes.

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Timeline for the 2023 Greencastle Bicentennial Mural: 

• April 1, 2023: Call for Artists Application OPEN

• April 30, 11:59pm ET: Call for Artists Artist Application Deadline

• May 1 - 25: Application Review Process

• May 27: Selected Artist Notified

• June 15, 11:59pm ET: Draft designs due to PCMP 

• June 15-25: Artists will receive feedback on draft designs from PCMP 

• June 30, 11:59pm ET: Final designs due to PCMP

• July 1-10: Feedback from PCMP on final designs

• July: Designs shared with Putnam County Community Members

• August 7: Materials listing and needs submitted to PCMP. ALL materials for completion of mural MUST be ordered by this date by artists. 

• August - September: Wall prep completed by PCMP

• September 23 - October 7, 2023: Mural Installation

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An application outline can be downloaded  HERE. If you're interested in applying, please complete the online application by clicking the APPLY NOW link below. 

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