Pillars of the Community

Pillars of the Community: The Marshall Street Underpass

By Lindsey Simpson
Published Jun 2, 2022 / Updated Jun 7, 2022

There has been a lot of buzz lately surrounding a public art work-in-progress: The Marshall Street/I-20 Underpass. Passers by have taken notice of the vibrant tie-dye, chaotic weather map-esque coat of paint going up now on the underpass pillars greeting downtown-bound travelers on Marshall Street. What was the City of Shreveport thinking, funding the arts when potholes abound, issues are rampant with public services, recycling isn’t a priority, and so on?

This project is brought to fruition by The Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, an organization with a mission to promote economic prosperity, serve as a business advocate, and celebrate the achievements of our region. Within that organization, there is a program called The Greater Shreveport Leadership Program. This is described as an engaging, in-depth program of the Greater Shreveport Chamber that develops community-minded business and civic leaders of tomorrow. This year-long interactive program provides a behind-the-scenes view of the issues that impact the region’s economy. Each class works collectively to select and complete a community service project to benefit a nonprofit organization project or cause. Past projects include “Bags ‘N Brews”, a cornhole tournament organized by the class where proceeds were donated to the Shreveport Common, and “BBQ Cookout by Operation BBQ Relief”, an event that raised funds for Caddo Sheriff Safety Town.

And now, The Marshall St. Underpass: the chosen project of the 44th Greater Shreveport Chamber Leadership Class, a public art project benefitting the entire population of Shreveport.

One of the four-person artist team and member of the 44th Leadership Class Ka’Davien Baylor can currently be seen daily, working hard alongside Eric Francis, Ben Moss, and Willie Love, building up the base coat of color to prepare for the extremely detailed mural work that will be the final product. Baylor, along with the other artists involved in the project, have completed numerous other public art projects in the Shreveport/Bossier area and beyond, and consistently exhibit strong artistic merit in every project they are a part of. This is truly a “dream team” of public art creators.

The Marshall St. Underpass Project was chosen as the 2021 Leadership Class’ annual project after identifying a need to beautify a blighted space. Many studies show that all cities gain cultural, economic, and social value through the presence of professional public art. The Americans For the Arts states that public art does something that neither a public space without art nor even a museum with all its art can do: it can capture the eye and mind of someone passing through our public spaces. It can make us pay attention to our civic environment; it can encourage us to question what’s around us.

We know what it is, why it is, and we’ve established that the project is needed, valid, and will improve the city. Big question: where is the funding coming from?

Funding for this project was led by Councilwoman Levette Fuller, the District B representative. Fuller has a track record of advocacy for the arts and beautification efforts throughout her district. That funding was made available to all council districts. The remaining fund were gathered as a result of the fundraising efforts of the 44th Greater Shreveport Chamber’s Leadership Class. Shown in the Project Presentation linked below, there are tiers of sponsorship that businesses and individuals can pledge their support to the mural project. This project is not siphoning funds away from any other public works needs.

Typically, public art is funded through private commissions or project (seen here) or through government granted funds. Governments allocate funding specifically to funding the arts in their community/state/country, and those funds, if not taken advantage of artists and turned into projects, would go unused. This sends the message to government budget creators that we must not need that much money for art, no one has used it, so it’s okay to reduce the available funds for these projects. This means more bare walls, more disrepair, less personality, and less money available to support professional artists in your community.

The bottom line is that every mural, painting, sculpture may not be your favorite color or favorite thing to look at, but having free, accessible art in public is unequivocally GOOD. Once you’ve educated yourself on how funding works for the creation of public artwork, there’s no good argument against it.

SOURCES:

Read the in-depth Project Plan/Presentation and Statement here