EAST HELENA FOOD & CULTURE HUB
East Helena, Montana
2020
As part of an ArtPlace America Creative Placemaking Grant, I was hired as an artist facilitator to create community-engaged projects that would help East Helenans further develop a new identity after their history as a company town (ASARCO smelter) and EPA Superfund Site. Keeping in mind COVID social distancing restrictions, Krys Homes, Executive Director of The Myrna Loy Theater, Betsy Burns, East Helena EPA Director, Bri Shipman, my local creative partner and I developed two mural projects and other opportunities for residents to learn more about each other and the city and build on their resilience and strength. The East Helena Food/Culture Hub is a collaboration between the City of East Helena, The Myrna Loy, the East Helena School District, and the local office of the US Environmental Protection Agency.
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PRICKLY PEAR CREEK MURALS
Main Street Park Prickly Pear Creek runs south to north through East Helena and is the site of many community memories. These panels, created by Vicki Curtiss' high school art students and Brooklyn Bennet's middle school art students, will be installed on the fence along Prickly Pear Creek in Main Street Park. |
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SCAVENGER HUNT
To get folks out into the city during the pandemic, we asked them to participate – as individuals, families or teams – in a citywide, four-week scavenger hunt with quests ranging from East Helena history to buildings to natural spaces to their own families and interests. Answers were collected in the form of writing, drawings, printed out photos, selfies. . . KTVH story by Sam Hoyle 
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SUNFLOWER MURALS East Helena Volunteer Fireman's Hall We chose sunflowers as a symbol of this year's East Helena Food and Culture Hub projects because of their diversity of sizes and of shades - happy reds, oranges and yellows - and how they are symbolic of how they, as East Helenans, are individually strong and how, collectively, they stand tall as a proud community and take care of each other. Thank you to the East Helena Girl Scouts and other community members for adding to the murals. |
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RIBBONS and SUNFLOWER SEEDS PROJECT
In our first reaching out to the community, we provided packages of ribbons and sunflower seeds, asking the community to celebrate their shared, strong, vibrant city by planting the seeds and attaching ribbons to their porches, trees, railings . . . including words of encouragement for each other. |