Chattanooga, TN (June 17, 2021) - EPB dedicated a new public art mural on its 10th Street Substation Thursday with a ceremony honoring the artists and community partners.
“This EPB mural is a body of work that lifts local voices and creates a tapestry reflecting the culture and traditions of the area,” said Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly. “We appreciate EPB adding this beautiful piece of public art to our city in addition to supporting our Chattanooga Juneteenth Festival this Saturday, June 19 at Miller Park across the street from EPB, where they’ll also share information about EPB’s purchasing programs for minority and women owned businesses, as well as promoting available career opportunities at the festival.”
The mural theme is “The Soul of MLK – how artists visualize the heartbeat and soul of MLK in arts, music and culture.” An outside group of community stakeholders selected the following nine artists based on their work’s artistic value, clarity of thought, community reflection and relevance to the theme.
A number of community partners made this project possible including ArtsBuild, Association of Visual Arts, Bessie Smith Cultural Center, City of Chattanooga’s Public Art Chattanooga, Chattanooga Community Kitchen, MLK Neighborhood Association, RISE Chattanooga, River City Company, Urban League of Greater Chattanooga and University of Tennessee Chattanooga.
“Every day as I’m driving in to work I get to see these murals and they add so much vibrancy to the neighborhood,” said James McKissic, President of ArtsBuild. “This project started during the COVID-19 pandemic, a challenging economic time for many people, including our creative community. This public art project gave these artists a chance to put their skills to work.”
ArtsBuild also supported the project by hosting a workshop for the muralists taught by Chattanooga artist Kevin Bate who also served as a consultant for the muralists.
“We’re proud that 100% of the selected submissions were from minority and/or women artists, including some of them being first time muralists,” said McKissic. “This is an opportunity for these artists to make their mark on our city that will be enjoyed by locals, visitors and future generations.”
This is the first year of a four year project. EPB will take submissions to create a public mural on the second side of the substation wall this fall.
“In most cases infrastructure is designed to deliver critical services without calling attention to itself,” said David Wade, EPB President and CEO. “But since this substation is located in the rapidly redeveloping MLK community, these walls are the perfect place to showcase this neighborhood’s rich cultural history and present day energy.”
The public can learn more about these artists at https://keeody.com/f/the-soul-of-mlk-artist-spotlight along with details about their individual murals.
About EPB
EPB serves the greater Chattanooga area by providing world-class energy and connectivity solutions as a means of promoting economic development and enhancing quality of life for our community. We deliver electricity to more than 170,000 homes and businesses across our 600 square mile service area which includes most of Hamilton County as well as parts of surrounding counties in both Tennessee and Georgia. In 2010, EPB Fiber Optics, which offers internet, TV, and telephone services, became the first provider in the United States to deliver up to 1 Gig (1,000 Mbps) internet speeds utilizing a community-wide fiber optic network which is accessible to every home and business in its service area. In 2015, EPB became the first, and to date, only American ISP to make up to 10 Gig (10,000 Mbps) internet speeds accessible to all of its residential and commercial customers as a standard offer.
EPB has also utilized its community-wide fiber optic network to deploy the most advanced and highly automated smart grid power management system in the nation. In recognition of EPB’s groundbreaking infrastructure, the Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are utilizing EPB’s smart grid as a national model for researching and developing best practices. EPB is also the first major power distribution utility to earn the USGBC’s PEER certification for having a highly automated, modernized electric power grid.
EPB is an independent board of the City of Chattanooga which began serving customers in 1939. Visit EPB.com for more information.
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