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Report for America is a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities.

Aurora's Upcoming Gateway Mural Will Display A Sense Of Community

https://auroradowntown.org/
Bucket of paint brushes.

A recent gateway mural project in the city of Aurora sparked a lot of dialogue last year. The nonprofit organization that commissioned the mural used that experience to come up with the theme for another development.  

“Aurora Unity” is the title for an upcoming gateway mural that will be located on the near East Side of the city. The exact location will be shared at a later date. People will be able to view it as they approach downtown.    

Gina Salamone is chair of the Streetscape committee for Aurora Downtown. She said the first project taught the group about the process for appointing artists.  

“We spent a lot of time talking to a lot of artists after that, and getting an idea of how best to go about things,” Salamone explained. “And so, this year -- we're not required as our organization to do RFPs -- but we listened to the artists and that's what they thought was the best process to go through.”

Salamone said the experience showed how the community could come together because artists who didn’t agree with the final decision still helped to complete the artwork

Area muralists can submit a request for proposal (RFP) to Aurora Downtown by Feb. 12. 

  • Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.

Yvonne covers artistic, cultural, and spiritual expressions in the COVID-19 era. This could include how members of community cultural groups are finding creative and innovative ways to enrich their personal lives through these expressions individually and within the context of their larger communities. Boose is a recent graduate of the Illinois Media School and returns to journalism after a career in the corporate world.