Mayor Mark Mallory and Art- Works today announced the sites of 12 new neighborhood murals to be painted this summer by over 100 area teenage artist apprentices. Mayor Mallory and ArtWorks created the youth, neighborhood mural program in 2007 as part of the City’s Summer Youth Employment Program, and in four years, it has painted 34 murals in 25 neighborhoods throughout the region.

“Our partnership with Art- Works is improving neighborhoods all over the city. The murals take blank walls and transform them into beautiful pieces of public art that enlivens neighborhoods,” Mayor Mark Mallory said. “Even more importantly, we have taught hundreds of young people how to create a project from scratch. They can be proud of what they have done for years to come.”

This summer murals will be painted in several neighborhoods, such as Avondale, College Hill, Downtown, Over-the-Rhine, the Peaslee Neighborhood Center in Overthe Rhine, Pleasant Ridge, the West End, and at the Banks. The 12 murals are part of 15 Art- Works summer projects to be completed by 142 teen apprentices and 36 professional artists.

“We at ArtWorks are honored to once again be partnering with Mayor Mallory on our summer mural program,” said ArtWorks’ Director, Tamara Harkavy. “We are excited to be offering meaningful employment to so many youth from Greater Cincinnati and we are also excited to be a part of the creation of meaningful pieces of public art in our great city. We are looking forward to another successful summer.”

Last year, Mayor Mallory won the best City Livability Program in the country from the US Conference of Mayors for the Mural Program. In their press release, the U.S. Conference of Mayors said that “the judges overwhelmingly chose this (The ArtWorks Mural Program) as their favorite project and wish they had a chance to replicate it while in office, declaring, ‘This is the project that made us jealous!”