The Campus Legacy Mural

panoramic view of The Campus Legacy mural on the Student Union Courtyard

The Center for Multicultural Engagement (CME) submitted in March of 2022 a proposal to President Yao's office in response to his request for proposals for one-time funding for each of the Mission-Based Centers. The faculty director, Jennie Luna brought forth the idea of a legacy mural as a High Impact Practice that aligns with the CME mission to create and sustain a campus climate in and out of the classroom that values and promotes all forms of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The Campus Legacy Mural would be painted on campus in collaboration with the Center for Integrative Studies and include the campus on the broader vision of the mural to be facilitated, designed and painted by a southern California-based muralist/artist-in-residence, Myisha Arellano and advised by renowned artist/muralist Yreina Cervantez, professor emeritus, CSU Northridge.

Pictures of Mural Opening

Campus Photographer, Jessica Chiang

Rationale

The CSU GI 2025 Goals include the following:

Intentional focus on student success and equity

This includes the growing Latinx population, as well as low-income students, first-generation college students, adult learners, full-time employees, commuter students, and working parents “providing [an] equitable, affordable, and transformative education that enables social and economic mobility for [our] diverse student population” (CSUCI Vision statement).

Based on 2019-2020 GI 2025 Task Force Report, one of the factors contributing to equity gaps include lack of early engagement in high impact practices”

“Participation in High Impact Practices (HIPs) is proven to promote persistence and increase graduation rates, particularly for underrepresented minorities. CSUCI’s peer mentor programs show that high-achieving peers are well suited to assist high-need students, especially when from similar backgrounds [Success Indicator 6]. Falling behind, even on one of these early academic success indicators, particularly for Latinx students and other historically underrepresented students, decreases the odds of persisting to graduation and contributes to equity gaps in graduation rates.”

The report also notes a need for student engagement and well-being, culturally relevant, focused messaging. There was a recommendation for increased marketing messages around GI 2025.

Murals Act as an Art Advocacy Tool

Murals are not a passive form of art. Murals are primarily made for public interaction and communication. To have murals on our campus walls is to send the message that the arts are important. .

Murals Empower Students

Students creating a mural for their campus are actively changing the space. They are engaged in an opportunity to communicate with their peers about issues, topics, and imagery important to them. The mural is not hidden on a shelf or stashed away in a folder. It is on display at any time of any day for anyone to see. There is no more authentic, relevant project in education for students to create together than a mural. The large scale and validation of students provides a new vision and purpose in individuals who participate in making them.

Murals Enrich the Community

Murals are the ideal medium to encourage collaboration between every age, gender identity, race, and religious affiliation. Murals can incorporate the ideas, sketches, values, and artistic contributions of students, staff, and community members/families throughout the various stages of the process. A mural can communicate what a school community values, appreciates, or wants to see for the future. Not only does the final product beautify and uplift the space, it gives a sense of ownership back to the students and stakeholders. A campus willing to give students the chance to decorate their academic space with their own collaborative artistic rigor is a campus nourishing positive community culture.

Murals are a Form of Communication

Art projects come and go. Murals are here to stay. They are a legacy, a means for students, faculty, staff, and stakeholders to communicate from generation to generation. Murals are an artistic dialogue serving to provoke and inspire present and future student populations. Murals speak to school bodies. Students not only enjoy the visual power and beauty that charges their school walls, but they analyze the symbolism and message being promoted by their peers. Students can challenge, educate, motivate, and engage other students in other times through the creation of murals.

Research and Justification for a Campus Legacy Mural

In order to address the needs, as expressed in the GI 2025, and address holistically the needs of students, in particular first generation and students of color, a legacy mural project focused on social justice, solidarity, pursuit of higher education, graduation, and the social-political moment of our time. Recognition of historical figures that have led movements for equal/equitable education and social justice issues in our society would be central.

The legacy mural seeks to have a broader vision of representation of all Communities of Color, multi-racial/multi-ethnic histories and experiences, as they have intersected and have worked in solidarity to create a more just society.

The CME conducted a campus-wide survey to understand interest in more public art on campus. Here is the summary of the survey:

Overall, the responses, particularly in the narratives, reflect a desire for more art on campus, but particularly representing BIPOC communities. It is clear that the current murals have had a positive impact on faculty, staff, and students. Given the tight timeline, these survey results reflect a fraction of our campus population, but still give a sample of data to demonstrate how public art elevates campus climate and creates a sense of belonging for faculty, staff, and students. The act of creating a mural and participating at all levels of its creation is regarded as a high impact practice, but also the permanency of the mural will possibly continue to have lasting effects by creating a sense of belonging, which in turn helps to recruit and retain students and lead to higher graduation rates. This survey also shows that the murals on campus can be integrated into curriculum in innovative ways.

muralist,Myisha Arellano, sitting on scafolding, backdrop camous legacy mural

Muralist/Artist:

In the initial research for an artist that would help create a piece that would elevate our campus in regards to public art, emeritus professor/artist/scholar Yreina Cervantez, from CSUN, came immediately to mind.

She is a leader and foremother of the arts/muralism in southern California, but also has the knowledge of the CSU, GI initiatives and how to utilize art as a way of engaging student and community participation in a cross-disciplinary, Intercultural way. Her expertise and legacy would presented us with an invaluable opportunity. Unable to commit to this endeavor, she led us to working with her student Myisha Arellano, a Queer Xicana Muralist, activist, social justice advocate and next generation of muralists in SoCal. Arellano also comes with a wealth of experience in her own right and has restored Cervantez’s murals and painted many murals throughout CA. Cervantez would work with Arellano in an advisory role. Ultimately, Arellano would be an artist in residence for a year at CSUCI, facilitating the mural process from start to finish in collaboration with the campus community.

Theme:

The theme of this mural would center Black, Indigenous People of Color, honoring Ethnic Studies and its roots of the Third World Liberation Front, and reflect the local histories and s/heroes that led various social movements in Ventura County. The mural reflects "Education & Social Justice.” This mural would also be in celebration of the 20th anniversary of our campus.

To prepare students and campus community for the mural, CME and the Center for Community Engagement, in collaboration with the Dolores Huerta Exhibit, coordinated a bus tour of murals and community-centered public art in Ventura County and the wider region. This mural bus tour was curated by students in the Chicana/o Studies Capstone class. You can view the entire mural tour and hear audio descriptions by students here, as well as have access to the Radical Walking Tours of Ventura County: A People's Guide to Ventura County.

The process to design the mural included three public forums and meetings with students and stakeholders to gather ideas as to what the campus community would like to see in this mural. Considering the ideas, the artist drafted a model of the design for campus feedback, and then, began to work. Students and community participated in helping to paint the mural and it was completed in June 2023.

The formal celebration of the mural was held on Indigenous People's Day, October 12, 2023 with a sunrise ceremony and artist talk.

Campus Legacy Mural designed and painted by Myisha Arelleno

Share your reflections about the Campus Legacy Mural

This project took a village. Many people and divisions supported, contributed, and worked to make this project possible. The CME would like to give a special thanks to all those who were involved.

Special Thanks:

CSUCI Students, President Richard Yao, Vice Provost Jessica Lavariega Monforti, AVP High Impact Practices and Experiential Education (HIPEE) Veronica Guerrero, Directors of the Center for Multicultural Engagement (CME) Christy Teranishi-Martinez, Jennie Luna, and Kem French AVP Chief Academic Budget Officer Kirk England, the Center for Integrative Studies (CIS), ASI Executive Director Helen Alatorre, ASI Assistant Director- Student Union and Services Bethany Banuelos, BFA and additional offices across campus, and the Campus Acquisitions Committee