LYNN — While the focus today is celebrating the completion of Beyond Walls’ massive murals, the idea of arts improving Lynn’s downtown began more than 25 years ago.
To combat blight on a desolate Union Street, from which most businesses had migrated to suburban malls, shopping centers and even other sections of Lynn (primarily the Boston Street corridor), then-Community Development director Jansi Chandler commissioned murals to disguise the empty storefronts.
The model wasn’t new to large cities, such as Boston and New York, which took the same route and brought art into streets as a new way to reinvigorate failing business districts.
The use of Community Development funding was met with some criticism. As is often the case, some moaned and groaned about the murals, stating that money should be directed elsewhere within the city. However, the grants were project specific and could not be used for basic city services.
Chandler did not intend for these installations, painted on plywood panels and affixed to the front of buildings, to be long-term solutions, but simply a means to combat blight and improve the aesthetics of an all-but-abandoned street.
The storefront murals were just the beginning. Shortly thereafter, Chandler — who served as CD executive director from 1986-98 and is the only woman to hold the position — commissioned the 1992 Comprehensive Plan under Mayor Patrick J. McManus and in conjunction with the Lynn Business Partnership. Recommendations from the plan included the creation of an arts and cultural district.
“The goal was improve the image and perception of the city through art,” said Chandler, who is now a development consultant in the private sector.
Community Development sought and received grant money and financial support from private businesses.
A movement began. Lynn’s Arts & Cultural District began to emerge downtown.
In 1994, Raw Art Works (RAW) was founded and opened space in downtown Lynn. The nonprofit’s mission was to channel the energies of at-risk youth by creating a safe and supportive environment within their community.
Soon thereafter the Community Minority Cultural Center (CMCC), under director Abner Darby, moved to Union Street. LynnArts found its home downtown when grant funding was secured to renovate the former bank block at 25 Exchange St., where their programs still are based today.
In 2006, the Lynn Museum and Historical Society found a new home in the Lynn Heritage State Park’s Visitor Center on the corner of Washington and Union streets. The Museum later merged with LynnArts.
It was this Arts & Cultural District that created the base for more public canvases and which eventuated into Beyond Walls.
Lynn has seen murals and public art exhibits progressively being added to the streets, such as the nine mosaic tiles celebrating the city’s history at Seaport Landing Marina at Heritage State Park, a mural and mosaic project at the corner of Exchange and Union streets by local artist Yetti Frenkel, the mural comprised of portraits that lines the walls of Central Square’s underpass completed by RAW students, and a collaboration between Centerboard and its Visionspace Gallery, RAW and the Museum which produced the “Ghosts of Lynn” mural in Central Square at the corner of Exchange and Mt. Vernon streets.
“It’s rewarding to know that seeds sown decades ago grew into something as breathtaking as Beyond Walls,” Chandler said. “The question now is, What comes next?”
Matt Demirs can be reached at [email protected].
