(Oakland, CA) — The Community Rejuvenation Project (CRP) unveiled its newly-revised and updated website today. The redesign includes thorough and comprehensive sections on issue areas like Policy, Education, and Professional Services, in addition to a new Public Art Policy Platform, detailed and nuanced information and background on Public Art Policy, Abatement and Abatement Alternatives, Creative Placemaking and Creative Placekeeping, and Economic Development. The new Education section includes School Programs, Curriculum Development, Teacher and Vocational Training, and Youth Development. Also brand-new: a Painting section which includes a historical overview of mural arts, a run-down of the benefits of murals and detailed descriptions of the types of murals, as well as CRP’s Community Engagement model and best practices. There is also new information on the many ways to get involved – via collaborating, commissioning a  project, or simply donating.

In a statement, CRP Founder and Executive Director Desi Mundo noted, “For the past several years, CRP has developed a unique niche through its Pavement to Policy approach to public art. We needed a platform that reflects all of the research and analysis that we’ve done in the policy arena, while at the same time, reflecting the fact that at our core, we are a creative arts organization. The newly-redesigned website has more than  80 pages of original content which shows the organizational growth we’ve experiencved. We’re not just showcasing our murals, but we’ve also gone way more in depth in sharing strategies for community engagement, public art as an equitable economic development strategy, and the techniques we’ve learned and refined over the years.” 

Mundo added, “We’ve also put a spotlight on our award-winning educational programming and the wide variety of ways that we engage youth. Our goal is to create avenues for the students in our programs to become arts educators, so we’re addressing youth development and job creation. We’ve outlined all of our different educational offerings and opportunities for schools.” 

With the updated web platform, Mundo said, “We’re growing as an organization. We want to engage a wider range of artists as potential collaborators.  We’ve created a comprehensive outline of best practices for working with artists which promotes worksite equity. We’ve also spelled out a clear platform for improving public art policy in our communities that is based on our work in collaboration with several local coalitions. These platforms and strategies are supported  by both our critical analysis of key related issues, such as mural protections, graffiti abatement, and creative peacemaking, as well as our blog, where we tackle current public arts issues both locally and nationally.”

Founded in 2005, CRP has painted hundreds of murals in the East Bay and specifically Oakland over the past 13 years, including the iconic “Universal Language” mural at 14th and Alice Sts., which is also the subject of an upcoming documentary film, “Alice Street,” slated for release in 2019. Inspired by the community mural aesthetic of William Walker, the stylistic innovations of aerosol legend Phase 2, and the social justice messaging of Emory Douglas, CRP’s mission is to uplift communities through creating meaningful public art which also mitigates blight and deters vandalism.