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The Dream
Imagine a city beaming with pride and displaying that pride with an abundance of public art. Imagine walls that were once barren brick concrete now alive with murals. Imagine public parks filled with sculpture and painting walls for kids to decorate. Imagine walking through the streets and stopping in at the local shops and restaurants that sprung up because art brought people to the area. With your help, Peoria will be that city.
The First Steps
2018 was the inaugural year for Big Picture. Big Picture is a dedicated team of artists, arts advocates, and visionaries who have committed their efforts to shed light on our city’s potential. Big Picture has three main areas of focus:
- Arts education opportunities for all, spanning in age from children in our schools and community centers to folks in retirement communities.
- Public murals and art to enliven buildings throughout the city, with a first-year focus on Peoria’s Warehouse District and the area surrounding the Peoria Riverfront Museum.
- A public arts festival—both a street festival and a film festival—to celebrate all that Peoria has to offer and to project where we are going. The street festival will be held in Peoria’s Historic Warehouse District in the 1300 SW Adams Street block. The film festival will take place at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.
Core Team
We are a grassroots, volunteer organization based on the reality that we are better together. We have a seven member board and over 30 folks who gather on a regular basis to plan our festival. Join us the first Wednesday of each month from March-August as we plan this year’s festival. Location: CT Gabbert’s, 1323 SW Adams, at 5 pm
Get Involved
We need mural artists, performance artists, arts organizations, arts educators, collaborative artists, soft sculpture artists, and volunteers who aren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty with paint or clean up. If you want to be part of creating the future of a vibrant city, please contact us at bigpicturepeoria@gmail.com and indicate in the subject line your area of interest.
Thank you. Together we can make Peoria a city that sees the Big Picture!