American Legion Post 194 After School Program

A few 450Next-ers stopped by American Legion Post 194 After-School Program to help out with production. Corrie Borgland instructed the group of approximately 12 elementary school-aged children on the details of creating mosaic art. Then the creative juices began to flow!

Check out the video!

450NEXT Public Mural Project 01 from Seth Ferreira on Vimeo.

Plans are under way!

We're very excited with how the project is progressing.

Wendy McDaniel and Corrie have been chosen as our artists and managers. Their selected medium, Mosaic Tile! They will be involving the children of the West Augustine community in the process. It has been decided that the conference room of the Calhoun Center will be used as the studio to create the mural pieces. All materials will also be stored there.

The children from the Boys & Girls Club, American Legion and Calvin Peete after school programs will be driven to the Calhoun Center by their own buses to work on the project. Volunteers from 450NEXT and YPO will assist in the production.

Wendy and Corrie are now coordinating with Greg White to order and store the materials.

We got our wall!

We are super excited to announce that our lunch meeting was truly divine intervention. Below are the photos of the wall. It is ready to go at the new Calhoun Community Center. Greg White, chairperson of the West Augustine CRA steering committee, was wondering what to do with the back of the wall when we started our lunch. During the lunch he decided we could be the group to coordinate a mural for the wall. He has money for paint, the children and Wendy McDaniel and another artist will help. Our contribution will be to fundraise to pay for the artist time. All of YPO can get involved if they are interested.

Juneteenth Celebration

The Juneteenth Celebration was a success! The '65 Sport Van flew the 450Next banner in the parade to kick off the event. Our tent attracted kids immediately due to the 20 foot inflatable monster truck bounce house that rose behind it! The only requirement to jump, they had to paint a picture. And the paint began to fly! When the dust settled we saw some great talent! Sharks, houses, self portraits, hearts, boats and some very interesting abstract creations in an array of colors.

As the kids waited in line to paint, we were able to speak to the parents about our project and vision, and it was very well received. The only thing we wished we had was a "leave-behind" to pass out.

After sampling a few hot dogs and some garlic crabs we all agreed it was a successful day and look forward to the next step!

Here are some photos:

View Cheryl's Photos

Topic Chosen!

After much debate and deliberation we have chosen a topic! The first 450Next project will be a public mural. We'll be calling upon the artistic talents of the children in West Augustine to help us paint our masterpiece.

Visit us at our table at the Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 20-21 at Collier-Blocker-Puryear Park at 10 N. Holmes Blvd. The parade starts at 10am, then stop by the table to paint your ideas for the mural! Bring the kids!

See ya there!

Top 4 chosen

We have narrowed the list to 4.

1. Public Art
   a. Lighthouse
   b. Lion
   
2. Public Mural
   
3. Recycling Awareness
   
4. Local Recreational Sports Team

Bounce House!

Set up bounce houses for young professionals that have small kids