CLEARWATER, Fla. — Clearwater hosted the city’s very first art mural festival in the Gateway neighborhood near downtown in March and hopes to make it an annual event.

“We really are lacking art in Clearwater,” said Amber Brice, Clearwater Arts and Cultural Affairs Manager. “The easiest way to get a bunch of art in the city at one time is murals.”

Brice said a half-dozen businesses participated by donating a wall for the Art Oasis Mural Festival. The city is paying the artists with $90,000 from the Clearwater Community Redevelopment Agency.

“We wanted to establish the mural festival to where people want this on their building,” said Brice. “It brings people here to take pictures in front of it.”

The owner of Senor Bubbles, Brenda Baez, 47, agreed to have artist Naomi Haverland paint a mural on her laundry center wall. Baez said it’s a “win-win” for everybody.

“Supporting the artist… I think we all will benefit from it. Residents, people working around here, tourism,” she said. “I’m really excited about it.”

Art events can have a big economic impact in the community. In the 2022 fiscal year, Clearwater generated $125.6 million in economic activity surrounding art events, which brought in $24.6 million in taxes, according to an Americans for the Arts study.

Artist Francisco Gonzalez, 36, who goes by Frankie G., painted a mural on the side of the El Ranchito De Pepe supermarket and said he’s honored to be a part of the inaugural event.

“To do a wall this size for the first one and also pay homage to my heritage, the heritage here in the area, it’s surreal,” he said. “So, really, to help kind of kick things off, there’s a great artist roster.”

Gonzalez is half-Cuban and lives in Tampa. He wanted to make sure his mural reflects the Mexican culture and heritage of the people who live in the Gateway neighborhood.

“We really wanted to bring in a sense of the community to this mural,” he said. “It’s kind of like a cycle of the family heritage and the strength.”

Gonzalez mural features colors and the snake from the Mexican flag, along with a wolf from the Aztec culture. The artists must finish their murals by March 31, which will be displayed for at least one year.

The city shared a list of the participating locations and artists in the Art Oasis Mural Fest 2024:

Brice said she hired the same consulting company that puts on the popular Shine Mural Festival in St. Petersburg and hopes to grow the festival in Clearwater.

“We’re just really excited for the direction Clearwater is headed with art,” she said. “We’re hoping that we have a lot of community buy in after an event like this and more neighborhoods will want to participate in the future.”