Grant Street Global Voices

During the 2012-2013 year, the Buffalo State Community Academic Center partnered with Young Audiences of Western New York (WNY) to submit and receive a $75,000 Our Town grant to implement the Grant Street Global Voices Public Arts Initiative. In our first year over 60 arts workshops were led by teaching artists and Buffalo State art education students at Buffalo Public’s Lafayette High School and the International School 45, the Buffalo State Community Academic Center, the WASH Project, and the Niagara Branch Library. Youth’s completed artworks were displayed in many of Grant Street’s bustling businesses and organizations. The culmination of the project featured a four-story mural painted by Augustina Droze on the south wall of Lorigo’s Meating Place. This ongoing project utilizes the arts to give a distinct sense of place and highlights vibrant local economies in order to capitalize on the existing community assets. Major partners for this project have included the City of Buffalo, Buffalo Public Schools, Buffalo State and its Community Academic Center, and Lorigo’s Meating Place.