Sanford, North Carolina

PREFERRED VENDOR n Barrs Recreation www.barrsrec.com an autocast. You can download a free app and hear about the history of these art pieces and murals, because they all have a historical perspective of our town. And now, a part of that vision will include schools. Students will begin taking field trips, this year, to walk the trail and learn about our history. So, it’s something that everybody has bought into. And we’re seeing more and more people in restaurants saying they just came down to see the murals that we have in Sanford. So, it’s definitely been rewarding. “This kind of initiative lifts people’s spirits and, in Sanford, it has stretched them, culturally, to be more proud of their town, which makes it so much easier to get buy-in for other projects. It has really created the kind of vibe that you want when you want your private stakeholders to get involved with things. So, it’s really been a feeder for many other creative ideas. If you want people to live here, one of the ways that you do that is to connect people with your past and so, I think, the historical perspective of our art, especially our mural art, has unlocked our history and heritage for others to see and learn. So, that’s a good way to connect people to something that they’re not already connected to, when they make those decisions to live and work somewhere. They feel a part of something. So, I would say our public art initiative has surpassed our expectations.”