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BROWNSVILLE – The City of Brownsville is calling for artists to paint a mural that represents the culture, landmarks, and wildlife on East Elizabeth Street.
The initial announcement set the lead artist to receive $5,869.79, a supply budget of $1,173.96, and volunteers provided by local partner organizations.
The city’s proposal left many local artists infuriated and prompted the city to increase the payout to $11,268.12 with the supply budget staying the same.
“A local business in Brownsville has paid three times more than what the city is offering,” says Hernandez.
Local artist, Alejandra Zertuche, expresses the need for more creative representation in the city.
“It makes me sad that they considered our local creative community at the end, almost two years after the other mural was like the first murals painted,” says Zertuche.
The frustration first started when the City of Brownsville commissioned Los Angeles-based artist, Teddy Kelly for a mural on the capitol theater building in downtown Brownsville.
Kelly was paid $20,000 for his work, sparking outrage from local artists.
Zertuche reminds the community that art is a skill that she and the creative community have trained for some artists going into the same debt as any other professional with a college degree.
“We are professionals, you know, we not we’re not kids trying to, like, paint pretty pictures and that’s it,” says Zertuche
RGV muralist, Alexander Gonzalez – Hernandez, has three years of professional experience painting murals and painted about 180 murals throughout the valley.
Hernandez encourages local cities, organizations, and businesses to hire locally.
“Who else will know more about our culture and history than us? We live here. We know more about the valley than any artist outside the valley … exposure doesn’t buy us tacos and I believe the cities should take art more seriously,” says Hernandez
Hernandez adds that the mural design and process from sketch to unveiling can take him anywhere from two weeks to two months
The City of Brownsville has respectfully declined an interview with KVAQ-TV.
Hernandez and Zertuche hope cities in the RGV can allocate at least one percent of their budget towards integrating more art into urban areas.
