Art and smart growth roundup

So much is going on this week that I could easily devote several blog posts to, but I thought I’d try to keep it simple. Here’s what you should know about that’s happening in our smART city right now:

Downtown Greenway public meetings: The last day of meetings and workshops is tomorrow (Thursday), starting at 9:30 a.m. at the Design Resource Center, 247 Florida St., and culminates in a public presentation and open house at the Old State Capitol at 5:30 p.m. I wrote about the project here, but you can also go to the Greenway’s website for more information.

Better Block BR volunteer open house: If you’re interested in helping with the Better Block BR event April 13-14, organizers are meeting 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Thursday at La Caretta on Government Street. In the coming weeks, volunteer teams will be tackling projects like art installation, pop-up business construction, promotion and more. The team is also seeking pop-up business ideas for the event. “We’re soliciting businesses in the area that want to expand their business ideas or have something they wanted to try out for the weekend,” says Camille Manning-Broome of Center for Planning Excellence. For more, go to Better Block BR’s Facebook page.

Art in new places: BR Walls Project is involved in a couple of installations going up around town. One is the first Lamar/BR Walls mobile mural, which was installed today on the back of Boudreaux & Thibodeaux’s downtown. The vinyl mural, a work by artist and Baton Rouge Gallery member Anne Boudreau, can be seen from North 4th Street in all of its flowering, almost aquatic-looking glory. Another installation you may have seen on Government Street this week is a collaboration with ONE BR, the Inside Out Project, artist Winifred Ross Reilly and several Mid City businesses that puts some local faces all over the blank walls of the currently vacant building at Government Street and Bedford Drive. Take a moment to drive, bike or walk around the city to see all the cool ways people are beautifying their neighborhoods.

Thaw out with art: Mid City Merchants’ annual Art Thaw happens tomorrow night, with more than 10 businesses and galleries participating. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. and is the first of many springtime art events coming our way. We wrote about it in our Weekender newsletter, which you can read here.

Image above was taken by Bennet Rhodes during the installation of the ONE BR mural on Sunday.