Program Description
Blight-Out is an UrbanArt Commission program supported by City of Memphis’s Percent-for-art funds that invites artists to help fight blight in neighborhoods throughout Memphis. This program applies a collaborative, innovative approach to tackling the complex and widespread issue of blight. Local artists are paired with neighborhood-based organizations and partners to develop project ideas from a series of resident-driven conversations. This process is facilitated through a series of UAC-led workshops in which neighborhood stakeholders share the history of the neighborhood, discuss needs and assets, and re-imagine blighted properties and forgotten spaces. Selected artists participate in these workshops so that conversations and feedback from residents inform the development of project ideas. Relevant training and resources are provided to artists throughout each stage of the community engagement, project design, and implementation process.
