[Narrator] There's a movement happening in Nebraska, one wall at a time.

We see these murals as being great additions to our community because they add vibrancy, they pull people in.

Public art has a really great opportunity to allow everybody to experience art in their everyday lives.

It's the tallest mural in Nebraska.

It's a bit terrifying painting 125 feet up in the sky.

[Narrator] Artists all over the state are telling the stories of our cultures, our landmarks, and of us.

I want it to be eye-catching and give it a reason why people should, you know, get off the interstate and check out what these small towns have to offer.

[Narrator] They're telling them with murals.

I decided that I loved my hometown so much, I could make it a better place.

[Narrator] At its most basic, it changes the color of a surface, but the stories these works of art tell and the skills of the artists who make them show that murals do much more for communities and for us.

The transformation can be magic.

It's kind of the cheapest way to transform a space.

Painting is awesome.

It totally changes the mood or the feeling of everything.

And the whole idea behind it is showing the arts as an economic driver.

We all love our communities and what makes them unique.

And you painted it all single-handedly?

-Or did you need help?

-Yep.

It was just me and a paintbrush.

I see all art as a celebration of life.

It inspires me, and I hope it inspires anyone that walks by it.

(lively guitar music) (gentle contemplative music) Well, it's a bit terrifying painting 125 feet up in the sky.

I've obviously never done that before, and I don't believe anyone on the team has.

It's the tallest mural in Nebraska.

Just simply hanging off the side of a building at, you know, swaying in the wind is a challenge.

[Narrator] This is Starseeds, one of the newest and largest murals in Nebraska.

At Ardent Mills, South Omaha location, its display is prominent just off of Highway 75.

Sarah Rowe is lead designer of Starseeds.

[Sarah] I wanted to approach this mural with respect to what the structure is.

When I designed it, I saw the pillars of the silos themselves as being part of the art.

So that was the basis for the design.

[Narrator] Like much of Rowe's art Starseeds is influenced by her culture.

It is a celebration of that, but it can speak on a more universal scale as well.

(gentle enthralling music) I am Lakota and very inspired by Lakota cosmology and storytelling and the mythical beings in that.

And those are certainly in that work, but I think it's in a really playful and approachable way that anyone could appreciate or anyone could find their own stories in.

There are Starseeds in these panels that are coming down from heaven and then the horses, which are reflections of Heyoka, which is a Lakota mythical or legendary figure.

They are playfully enjoying the Starseeds.

[Narrator] Richard Harrison has been part of Nebraska's mural scene since 2000.

He calls himself the chief daydreamer of A Midsummer's Mural, a company that specializes in large scale art.

On Starseeds, Richard is among a team of artists completing Sarah's design.

She has such dedication to her craft and to making it perfect.

Luckily, it hasn't been a challenge of getting people excited about it and excited about problem solving.

So many technical problems, like, and how do you get thousands of gallons delivered by truck to your job site and, you know, just things I'd never even thought about.

(bright music) [Narrator] Benter Mock was excited to help paint Starseeds.

Oh my gosh.

When I first started it, it seemed so daunting because, like, it was just all concrete.

It's hard to grasp because when you first look at it, you don't even see an end goal because it's just so big.

[Narrator] Beyond the size, Weston Thompson saw another challenge.

The surface is a high texture, very tactile, bumpy, rough surface, almost like a, it looks like elephant skin.

It just has these wrinkles and bumps all over.

It did like the blue collar work of patching and sanding and power washing, priming it, I mean every single thing.

[Narrator] Mural projects often require partners, especially if it's going to be the size of Starseeds.

Ardent Mills was on board, the Faith Foundation provided significant funding.

Another partner on this project is Omaha by Design, a nonprofit for people-centered urban design and policy.

And that means we're always looking at how do we create a more vibrant and livable city for everyone.

What is the quality and the look and feel of the built environment that we inhabit.

In that, architecture matters, but public art is huge.

Public art is so essential to kind of saying who we are and who we envision ourselves to be as a community.

[Narrator] The building owner is another necessary partner.

Ardent Mills has murals on grain elevators around the US.

The company welcomed one in Omaha.

And so Ardent was able to provide funding for all the safety equipment and the bin prep and then we were able to have a funding from the community for the rest of the mural.

[Narrator] The curved sides of the grain bins call for something other than standard grid lines as a guide.

Using doodles, the artists check their work from a distance.

[Weston] We use the doodle grid method, which is kind of creating the series of scribbles and doodles and then you superimpose your image, your mural image over the top of that as a reference.

I'm used to working in my studio and having that bubble of safety and quiet.

So it's good to kind of jolt yourself into a public space and share the process.

It's...

I think it's interesting for people that pass by that maybe don't engage with art very often or don't go into art galleries to kind of show them the process.

And it just seems like murals is a great way to share the visual art because so many people see it all the time and the bigger the better, I think.

[Narrator] Hiding the process and progress of Starseeds would be difficult even if Sarah wanted to.

Following along as it slowly becomes complete, it is just one, although a rather large, example of murals as public art in Nebraska.

It's important 'cause it reflects the individual and the community at the same time.

It is...

It's powerful.

It increases the public wellbeing and joy in our lives.

- I say it's art on parade.

I think celebrating the human spirit and community, and murals are such a beautiful way to do that.

I believe in accessibility in the arts, and murals are first and foremost public art, which is really important.

(lively guitar music) So we are in Brule, Nebraska, and this is the Keith County Area Development's 2023 mural project, and I am the winner.

[Narrator] It's a typical summer day in Nebraska.

Warm temperatures, sunshine, but in Brule, the town's park is receiving a new addition.

Each of the four sides of the restroom will be its own mural, a patriotic salute of the town's name, a train, and the park's name will cover three sides.

The fourth will be interactive.

- It's kind of a selfie mural where you can sit in front of and act like you're sitting on the bench in the garden.

So this is that base coat, that background color.

[Narrator] New murals here are more than paint on walls.

We see these murals as being great additions to our community because they add vibrancy, they pull people in.

You know, art is interpretive.

Everybody interprets art a little bit differently, and so they really wanna stop, take a look at that piece of art, experience that piece of art, and it helps them to see what is around them here, also in the community.

This is a countywide project.

So Ogallala was the first community that we did these projects, but we've expanded those to include the village of Brule and next year will be the village of Paxton, really to show that we're united.

Most murals traditionally have used a vocabulary of recognizable forms, landscapes, people, historical event.

They just seem to suggest that you might be able to see yourself or your community in these pictures.

[Narrator] The project isn't done on a whim.

Through community vision planning sessions, areas of focus are identified.

I mean when we're talking about quality of place, we want something that is attractive.

We want our community to be attractive to visitors but also our existing residents.

And so public art mural development became a way that we thought we could make a huge impact.

[Narrator] Next is finding an artist who will meet what the community wants in its mural.

The call goes out through social media and other means.

From that, we got a lot of really great artists, different designs, concepts, just amazing.

Murals are, I feel like are the hot new thing to have.

I think because they can be done fairly quickly.

There's also a great aspect where you can make them very community minded.

In Brule, we focused on beauty, creativity, and nature as being the top three most important things.

That's how Breeanna came up with her concept.

So I knew Brule in an entirety love their history and I wanted to honor their history, the railroad, that was big with the startup of Brule, and then I knew veterans were really, you know, appreciative of, like, any kind of, like, a flag design.

I take an estimate of the measurement of, for example, how big these letters should be.

So then that's how big I make these stencils and then I tape them onto the wall and then I just, I always walk back and look a lot just to make sure it makes sense.

(light upbeat music) (indistinct chatter) [Narrator] In many Nebraska communities, a lot of work happens on mural projects before the first paint can is open.

[Trevor] I think it'd be awesome.

I love the look of it.

It just has to be in the right place, right?

Yeah.

[Narrator] In Beatrice, committee members are discussing submitted mural designs for a downtown alley project.

This is such a great opportunity for families and imagine how many kids' pictures, family portraits are all gonna be done in front of this.

[Narrator] It's not the first time for this process in Beatrice.

With positive reactions to murals painted previously, community leaders have decided to add more.

Our community really wants us to just keep pushing and keep pushing more art and making our downtown a more beautiful place to be.

(car engine purring) [Narrator] Those early murals are part of the reason Beatrice has a Creative District, a designation from the Nebraska Arts Council.

Creative Districts is a program that was passed in legislation in 2020, and the whole idea behind it is showing the arts as an economic driver.

We all love our communities and what makes them unique.

So they get $10,000 right away, and then we have what we call a development grant, and after they're certified, they're eligible for that, and they can apply for up to $250,000, which is a nice chunk of money for those big projects.

[Narrator] The Nebraska legislature has seen public art as a way to enhance the economies of Nebraska communities.

Something that fits the purpose of We oftentimes see our downtowns as kind of the front door of the community.

It's really the welcoming mat.

When you think about sense of place or just that community character, a lot of times it's judged on the health or vibrancy of downtown.

[Narrator] The Creative District designation comes from communities working with the Nebraska Arts Council.

[Rachel] The communities themselves get to set their goals.

We're not telling them what needs to happen, so they decide what it is that's important to them.

I think it has this really great aspect of being able to bring people together for conversations and to work together [Michael] Each and every one of these different little pieces that you're seeing are mosaic tiles.

[Narrator] Looking at proposals on paper is one thing.

Seeing where they will be placed helps in decision making too.

So here's our next building that we're looking at, and obviously this one being the Schmuck building.

It's definitely got its historic character and it's, you know, art in and of itself.

(indistinct conversation) I think this is kind of our way to encourage people to keep these buildings up and just keep our downtown thriving and moving and growing forward.

Now as we move into alleys and some other areas, it could be things that are metal work.

Maybe we move to sculpture.

[Narrator] Beatrice is well on its way to more murals, so is a western Nebraska community that's planting the seeds of public art in unique ways.

-(indistinct conversation) -(gentle music) [Narrator] From southeast Nebraska, we go to the Panhandle.

Alliance is starting muralists at a very young age.

It's the wild west of the mural making process when you have a lot of young hands involved.

[Narrator] After installing walls at the Rec Center's garden.

It seemed logical to have the kids in the summer program help paint them.

So you're dealing with limited dexterity, large scale paints, huge areas for these tiny little humans, and then kind of limited visual concepts of, they're into more basic shapes right now.

You see a lot of hearts, flowers, things like that.

I'm here, we're just painting on a fence on the garden on the, behind you.

We've been painting it for our garden.

We've been just painting the fences with this kind of teal greenish.

Yeah, it's pretty cool.

You have different color and you have to paint with them.

Because it's really funny, and you, it's gonna look really cool at the end once you finish.

- Because you get messy.

[Narrator] It wasn't long ago, Ryleigh Mashburn fed her art appetite participating in youth programs at the Carnegie Arts Center.

As a high schooler, she helps run them.

We're trying to do, like, a layered effect so it can bring, like, color in life and it's something fun for the kids to do and so they can have, like, a role in it, and then we're gonna paint text over it.

And I'm just kind of here to supervise and make sure the kids, like, don't get paint on each other.

[Narrator] Sure, getting messy with paint is fun, but there's more to this than creating art skills.

For Gibson, it's also about planting seeds for the future of the community.

But we do wanna encourage these kids to care about their community and hopefully reinvest their energy in making it a place that they would like to stay in.

Having the kids involved in the creative process from an early age, whether it's small pieces or large scale murals like this, this is teaching them investment.

They can take pride in the process.

[Ryleigh] I feel it is very important to have art just like around town.

We actually worked with our recycling center organization to make a bottle cap mural, and it is really cool.

It's of a bulldog.

You can be the investment in the change that makes where you grow up, where you're from, a wonderful place to live and contribute to that.

[Narrator] The magic of murals adds color to plain buildings, makes public spaces more welcoming and shows all of us that investing in our communities can help them in many ways.

(gentle guitar music) - We're in Bridgeport, Nebraska, and we're painting a mural of some of their local history with the depot and the Big Boy train, Henry Clark, who built a giant toll bridge back when they found gold in Deadwood.

A lot of times when I'm painting it close, it's like, what am I even painting?

It looks so abstract, and sometimes you gotta get a block away to really, you know, see some of those differences.

(paintbrush rasps) Doing a little touch up, you know.

After you look at artwork for a while, and there's always things that you would wanna change or make alterations to.

[Narrator] Artist Lauren Olson is finishing a large mural.

Like dozens of murals across Nebraska, it touches on the local history and culture.

Often, painting is the last step in a long process.

It's a whole lot of research, either going to their museums or talking to local people in town.

A lot of towns also have, like, history books.

I also have one in Big Springs, two in Bridgeport, two in Chappell, one in Lodgepole, one in Lisco, one in the Lewellen.

I'd love to just take over Western Nebraska.

(laughs) [Narrator] An art teacher in Garden County schools in Oshkosh, Olson doesn't take summers off.

- All of the murals and mosaics in Garden County have been a form of community service for me, giving back to my community.

(gentle pensive music) [Narrator] Olson's murals bring color to communities.

And perhaps a less evident way, they also magically bring art to more people.

You don't have to go into a gallery or into a building that maybe you've never been into a space like that before, and it's intimidating.

But if you see an artwork in an alleyway or on your way to work outside of the parking lot, then you're constantly seeing that.

[Narrator] Oshkosh is where Olson grew up.

Not necessarily where she thought she'd end up though.

- I create murals, you know, 'cause Oshkosh wasn't necessarily the place I wanted to live, but this was the place I was going to make it, you know, that I wanted to live here and make it an interesting place.

[Narrator] Olson realized this is the place for her after all.

Now she's making it more attractive for others through her art.

Thinking about, like, creating these murals, it was, I want it to be eye-catching and give it a reason why people should, you know, get off the interstate and take some of these, you know, scenic routes and check out what these small towns have to offer.

And that's always really important when making murals is, you know, thinking about the readability, and if you're looking at it quick, can you read if there's wording on it and having that contrast and, you know, images that are gonna connect with the people that are driving through.

This is a Nebraska mural that my high school students did in 2020.

And I think they did a really great job of representing Nebraska and our community.

-The reason why public art is important is because it really helps you have a sense of identity, where you are, and develops that sense of identity and makes it a visual reminder of how you're connected with that space.

I always tell people that paint is the cheapest way to improve a building and to add something that the community connects to.

(enthralling music) [Narrator] Connecting the community through murals is happening in Omaha too.

The Bellows Mentoring Program pairs professional artists with high school students to create meaningful art that reflects the community.

The mural program is led by Hugo Zamarano.

A heart?

Oh, nice.

The ideas, the skill level, just how everyone grows from some of them when they start the program, they're freshman or a sophomore until when they graduate.

There was just more creative energy.

Just seeing all the artwork, seeing younger artists and just being blown away, I really enjoy that part about, you know, being a mentor here.

[Narrator] Zamarano is very familiar with the program.

He was a mentee as a high school student.

[Hugo] I've always been interested in art, but I really got into it around sixth, seventh grade is where I kind of got into both graffiti and writing and drawing.

[Narrator] High school students, Sam Daeges and Diamond Smith, collaborated on a vibrant mural depicting themes of creativity and self-expression.

Well, mural's really cool 'cause you get to work on a big project.

It's like a step-by-step project.

You, like, get the idea first and then you put down a base and then paint through it and try to get it to the best of your abilities, what you have in your mind onto the wall.

It's really cool to see other people's thoughts and stuff too.

Like I get to express myself.

I just, like, put my thoughts and imaginations on, like, a canvas or a paper.

I just feel like I was made to, like, create things.

I, like, express my feelings.

I have a diamond as an eye 'cause it's like kind of my autograph.

It's given me a goal and worked with some awesome people where you have a person there to help you get through the hard parts and keep you going.

[Narrator] Joslyn Art Museum extends its reach and connection to the community through the mentoring program.

It's a great way to connect young artists with professionals.

Hugo has been great.

He knows a lot, he's very skilled, so he, if I ask him a question, he'll be able to break it down for me into, like, a simple form.

It's good, I feel like it's good for me as an artist to constantly be around more artists that are learning and just seeing, just seeing the development is, you know, is really cool.

[Narrator] The mentoring program doesn't stay in the Bellows studio.

The art goes into the community.

(gentle relaxing music) - We're at the Adam M. Koslosky Reflection Garden at Methodist Hospital.

This is a place of respite.

You can sit here and feel for that one few seconds, normal.

And that is beyond belief, what value that brings.

[Narrator] Adam Koslosky was a cancer patient at Methodist a few years ago.

During that time, the family discovered there wasn't really a good place for patients, visitors, and hospital staff to take a break.

[Kathy] We were five years ago able to establish the garden.

[Narrator] But there was still something missing on the path from the building to the garden.

So we thought if we had a mural that it would be a nice transition, and they would know to follow the mural.

It turned out beyond our wildest hopes and prayers for that.

I think it works with what this place is, which is a reflection garden.

[Narrator] The sources of that funding can be public, like the Nebraska legislature through the Creative Districts, philanthropists see an important role for the art too.

- Good public art helps cities enliven certain areas, and murals kind of connotes something that's kind of home spun, you know, but we're talking really good artists, making really cool art on walls and on, you know, and three-dimensional pieces, and it can literally enliven places and spaces.

(bus engine roaring) [Narrator] Omaha based Faith Foundation impacted the art scene as a way to bring color and work for local artists during the pandemic.

Then, when a new bus route, Omaha Rapid Bus Transit or ORBT started, the Faith Foundation began a partnership with Omaha by Design.

(light upbeat music) We have a ton of talent right here.

Let's grow it and let them be the entrepreneurs that they are and support them financially to make a living.

We turned this main corridor, this main artery in Omaha, into a full on drive-by gallery with art that is diverse as the people we have in the city.

The color palette of a city is typically tan, gray, rough surfaces, and then you have these like little blossoms of creativity and all the way down.

I think that the visibility is there differently because of the proximity to the bus riders.

It's just a little bit different.

I painted a couple of them, Weston has painted a couple of them.

[Announcer] 8th & Farnam ORBT Station.

[Narrator] 18 local artists created murals on the bus stops.

Kalk and Thomson do more than paint for projects like this.

They're part of Art Plus Infrastructure, which advocates for local artists.

-Good public art happens, businesses start to pay attention and may say, wait a second, that's all done out of local.

And so they start to see these artists as entrepreneurs, not just artists, you know, they're entrepreneurs, and they're building businesses in your community, and you support them.

You give them work, and guess what, communities grow.

And all of a sudden, people look at around and go, "Oh my gosh, there are canvases everywhere.

There are a lot of potential here."

And that subtle change and shift in people's minds about their environment, I think is powerful -(light music) -(indistinct chatter) [Narrator] In Lincoln's University Place neighborhood, murals are providing a facelift.

If you see things going up that make it more brighter and, you know, more joyous, that it just makes it a better place to live.

That's what art is supposed to do.

[Narrator] Logically, the Lux Center for the Arts in the heart of University Place is behind the mural installations.

Nothing makes art more relevant than murals.

And I think that when we had our mural festival in 2021, so many people came out that had never been to the Lux from our neighborhood, and they saw firsthand how murals can change the trajectory of a neighborhood and make it more pleasant, a better place to live, you know, improve your quality of life, all of those things.

[Narrator] That same year, the Lux applied to have the area designated as a Creative District by the Nebraska Arts Council.

[Joe] We want people from all over Lincoln to visit us, and so we want to create more foot traffic in this neighborhood.

[Narrator] The large scale Starseeds in Omaha isn't the only thing keeping artists Sarah Rowe busy this summer.

She's also working on one of the new murals in the Lux neighborhood.

The painting was titled Gentleness is a Strength and it has four horses, which is important in Lakota ceremony.

So I see these horses as guardians offering blessings.

This is one of our new murals and this is by artist Sarah Rowe.

(bright upbeat music) I think there is a desire to create certain kinds of spaces that are going to be welcoming to multiple groups in a community.

This is all about creating a canvas for this neighborhood.

(bright upbeat music continues) The mission of the Lux is to provide support for artists and it's also to bring people into the art world to let them know that art is for everyone.

We love to see what the artist is gonna do and what they're gonna bring to us.

Welcome to the Lux Mural Festival.

(audience cheers and applauds) I hope you're having a great time.

We're so happy to have you all here as we unveil three new murals, the Uni Place Creative District.

(lively music) And you painted it all single-handedly -or did you need help?

-Yep, I just...

It was just me and a paintbrush.

That's why it took two weeks.

[Narrator] Sarah Rowe's new work is one of the pieces unveiled at the Lux's Emerge LNK.

I love painting with brushes, but it takes longer.

Yeah, it turned out really vibrant.

[Friend] It's beautiful.

I'm really inspired by color more than anything, just experimenting with how two colors butted up against each other, what kind of energy that creates.

It's like a big Polaroid almost.

[Narrator] Working with multimedia, Sarah knows the power of murals and the University Place neighborhood is a real life example.

I see all art as a celebration of life, and that was one of the most ultimate celebrations of life, revisiting that and seeing this color that just, like, pops.

It just, it's so...

It inspires me, and I hope it inspires anyone that walks by it.

[Narrator] Murals have transformed the neighborhood, making it a destination for artists, art lovers, and art novices.

We're gonna keep doing murals as long as there are walls to put them on.

I mean, that's part of creating this backdrop for the Creative District.

We wanna be the leader of education and we wanna be the leader in murals in Lincoln.

[Narrator] Multiple murals have transformed the Lux neighborhood in Lincoln, including one of the newest by Sarah Rowe.

In Omaha, Rowe's Starseeds alone is transforming a neighborhood and more.

From the get go, I was just like, how are we gonna do this?

Because I'm used to projecting onto a flat surface.

And this is a curved surface.

I was curious if we could do it, but I feel like a pretty ambitious artist, and I like to work big, I love to collaborate, so I just kind of dove in.

[Narrator] Artists are painting with sprayers, rollers, and brushes.

The grain bins at Ardent Mills south location influence Sarah's mural design.

-It's an active wheat mill, so I wanted these kind of childlike wheat stalks to flank the design so that kind of grows out of the ground, and then these big pillars, I kind of saw them as windows also to the sky.

So it becomes part of the landscape.

(enthralling music) I am primarily a painter, but I approach my paintings as backdrops almost, or seeds, which is a prominent part of my iconography seeds, different symbols that are drawn from Lakota iconography.

So I kind of plant those seeds in my surfaces and then I dream up ways for them to engage an audience.

So when we are dealing with cultural symbols, they're telling a story or helping us remember a culture that was rich and vibrant and that we need to remember.

[Narrator] Harrison is very familiar with using mural magic to tell the stories of the numerous cultures that make up South Omaha.

We've done murals for the Lithuanians and the Mexican community and then Polish and then Croatian, the Mayans, and the Italians and the Irish.

So, and finally we got to do a mural for the Black community and for the Native American community in one summer altogether.

[Narrator] Not far from Starseeds, the South Omaha Mural Project started in 2014.

Harrison's company, A Midsummer's Mural, in creating more than a dozen murals in that part of the city.

To tell the story of South Omaha is exciting 'cause it was an epic group of people coming together from all different countries.

When you look at contemporary mural makers today, you see something that is perhaps much more representative of American demographics across the board.

- As we did a new mural each time, we tried to hire people from that community and both as volunteers and as paid artists.

And these grain mills tell the story too of how farmers must have brought their grains in from, and still do, from all across the country.

With Sarah's piece first started as a concept, it got better and better, it got more vivid, more focused.

So it was just fun to watch.

- We were literally a print head.

We were just going up and down and painting and printing and just kind of getting more excited as it went forward.

Her work just reads very well from a distance.

I also felt like because she's an Indigenous artist, that representation was really important, you know, for other Indigenous, you know, even kids to be able to say, that's, that's Sarah Rowe, she's like me.

Like that's huge, right?

Sometimes museum or gallery spaces are very quiet, and you see your art, public art, there's just activity everywhere.

There's birds hanging out on it, there's people walking by, there's cranes and tractors and cars, and it's just, it's like alive.

(bright guitar music) [Breeanna] With this one, there's four different sides, which is four very different designs.

So hopefully the whole community will like one of them.

[Narrator] Breeanna Benton continues work on her public art and the relative quiet.

The Brule mural begins to take shape.

[Breeanna] So right now I'm adding the block as almost like the shadow of the block letters.

This way, it really makes those letters stand out almost like a three-dimensional effect.

[Narrator] This is the latest of Breeanna's Keith County murals.

A retaining wall at the Paxton Library was completed recently, and in Ogallala, she's brightened up downtown.

[Breeanna] This one is called At Days Done, and it's 106 feet long, and the tallest point is 16 feet, and I believe the shortest is about 12.

We are in Ogallala's brand new pocket park in Ogallala, Nebraska.

This is where I painted a mural and the Green Space Committee has planted these gorgeous flower beds.

This is kind of your alleyway to our downtown, to our rendezvous square, where attractions can happen like our concerts, our farmer's markets.

Just a nice space to sit and have your lunch, sit and have a chat with a friend.

Just a very welcoming space.

She might have used the gray wall a little bit and then she used the color so you can see down at the hills.

So you realize that that's the sun right there, at the center?

That's the sun, huh.

So you have the sunset shading all the hills too.

We measure success basically through the exposure that our county has received from the mural projects.

And we also measure success by how, you know, you see families taking pictures and doing selfies and saying, "I was here."

These murals just compliment the attractiveness to our community for sure.

If you're gonna put it on social media, they're gonna go home and show grandma and grandpa, this is where we went on vacation.

A lot of people don't go to museums, they don't get to see art, they don't get to see artists working.

This mural will be here a long time, and it'll be significant.

[Wendy] I am a big fan of public art.

It's an effort to stress the place's importance to people, and I think that's great.

- It's that little splash of color as you drive down the street, so.

It's better than just the plain gray wall that I was used to.

Much better.

Little bit of whimsy, you know, and the benches and the flowers just make it a really nice space for us too.

Oh, yeah.

[Narrator] Another space in another Nebraska town, the magic of murals can be experienced even in alleys.

(slow tense music) [Narrator]Part of downtown Grand Island is transformed through a vibrant mural, bringing color, creativity, and community to the city.

(light upbeat music) [Andrea] We got 15 artists ranging from 16 to 78.

Every story you can imagine, single parents, full-time students, everything.

[Narrator] The project is under the direction of Andrea Hall.

She wants it to be a place that people visit, A spot for people to come and stop and smile, take a picture.

And we're not even finished, and that's happening, right?

Every time I'm here painting, somebody stops by and takes a picture.

We had a couple from New York stop by and take a picture.

That's exactly what it's about.

[Narrator] Hall wants it to be a place for local artists to show their skills and talents.

[Andrea] I want them to get the recognition.

These guys are amazing and they've shown hard work.

There's talent here for sure.

So this is actually my first mural, but I do painting on canvases, but I've really enjoyed doing this one.

[Narrator] Gutierrez calls her mural the Face of Grand Island.

Projects like this are also a way to expose art to a broad audience.

It's at no cost to the community.

And you know, Grand Island, I think, it's a really low income community.

And so it's harder to justify spending money on art, right?

And so for this to be free for anybody to come look at is, I think is historic really when it feels like you have a part in bettering the community and it's really fulfilling.

[Narrator] Hall is also one of the muralists, one of her pieces is a tribute to her mother.

I thought it'd be a great tribute to her.

And working with kids with special needs, we had a nod to Autism with the puzzle pieces and hearts because she gives love.

[Narrator] Part of her ambition is to show others if she can do it, they can too.

I've been painting for 10 years, and I think my journey started when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 'cause I was stuck sitting and I just started sketching.

And since then I've gotten better and better.

There's times I use my left hand because I can't use my right, and I always say there's a way, you know, the sky's the limit.

[Narrator] As part of welcoming week, the mural event allows visitors to grab a brush themselves.

Another way to show that everyone can be an artist.

I've always thought Grand Island could be that oasis of culture, arts, music, and I think we're getting there.

[Narrator] The Grand Island event shows public art is for everyone, and it could be by everyone too, just like we've seen in planting the seeds of young artists in Alliance.

(gentle guitar music) The Alliance Rec Center's garden mural is at ground level.

Alliance has another creative way to put murals on the ground in the community.

Though they might be best seen from the air, crosswalk murals.

-And the concept behind a crosswalk mural is that, you know, in high traffic areas where you have pedestrians, it's this bright, colorful thing that makes people slow down and look, which also makes them more aware of pedestrians.

[Narrator] After growing up in Alliance, Gibson didn't necessarily have plans to return, but ironically it was during college in Lincoln that it turned into a possibility.

I learned about placemaking and how creating art is beneficial to all ages.

And eventually I decided that I loved my hometown so much.

I really hope that somebody would take care of it and kind of came to this epiphany that I could be that person, I could come home, I could make it a better place.

[Narrator] Part of Alliance's revitalization is the Creative District designation.

[Kyren] I don't know how we could do what we do without the funding that they assist us with.

They pushed little small organizations to develop strategic plans to help them figure out how to create sustainability.

We have beautiful museums and art centers, but having something visually in your face, a feast for the eyes, if you will, I think would be more of a draw into the community.

[Narrator] Communities and residents of all ages all around the state are learning art can do a lot, especially murals.

It can definitely bring, like, more life and stuff to the community just to give someone a little smile every day.

If you're new to town, you'll see that, you'll be like, "Wow, that's really pretty," or something.

Like, it just, art just kind of makes you smile.

When you take the time to beautify a space, people wanna invest in that space.

They take more pride in taking care of it.

If a place or space looks neglected, then you're going to continue to neglect that space.

I just like painting.

I think it's worth all the effort.

(chuckles) -(indistinct chatter) -(cricket chirping) (light pensive music) So I'm a part of the Main Street's mural project, and I am painting a six foot by six foot mural in the shape of a heart that says Small Town, Big Heart on it.

[Narrator] Her Nebraska home has stuck with artist Shyanna McGuire.

Every time I come home, I always get like a warm feeling inside that I'm just, I'm very in my happy place, and everybody around here is always so welcoming to everybody.

[Narrator] Shyanna's heart design is one of the new murals selected for Beatrice's Creative District.

Another is different than the common paint and brush.

So I am taking my pattern, and I'm using this little tool that has a round end on it to trace all of my tile pieces out.

[Narrator] Lauren Scheele's alley mural begins in her downtown Beatrice ceramic studio.

I just think I've been calling it Birds Circling, but I might come up with a better name than that.

[Narrator] Once all the pieces are cut and fired, they will become a mounted mosaic tile piece.

Talking with the Main Street people like they were really excited about the idea of having different mediums.

[Narrator] Other artists are adding their designs to Beatrice.

Brett Kaufman contributes a spray paint piece that represents a street art approach to murals.

Megan King and Kylie Combs have a nature and wildlife theme to their mural, right at eye-level for the youngest art lovers.

We have a lot of phenomenal artists who are submitting work.

They're all very talented, but what fits the space is it's tricky.

It's really covering a wide scope of artistic styles and subjects, and it's gonna appeal to a lot of different people.

We're pretty excited about it.

[Lauren] It is about 200 pieces.

This one definitely took a long time to create a lot of pieces.

Very much like a puzzle.

So I'm hoping that I calculated everything correctly where it will all fit perfectly together.

[Narrator] Lauren Scheele's ceramic mural style has moved from her studio to the alley.

The different medium adds to the growing Creative District.

I just think it's something unique and different.

You don't see a whole lot of ceramic mosaic outside.

[Narrator] This mural joins two others Lauren installed earlier.

With this, it's a little bit more three-dimensional.

Right now, they're looking really great.

I've had a lot of compliments on 'em so far.

(lively guitar music) If you want people to come back, you have to give them something to come back to, and people can say what they want about it, but something in the form of arts and culture historically works.

It works in urban areas, it works in rural areas.

There are several books that are written about this.

It's a strategy that has a legacy of being successful.

[Trevor] We see the people taking pictures with it and showcasing it for whether it be senior pictures or family photos.

That's what I would consider a success is when the community truly enjoys it.

'Cause that's why we're doing this.

[Angie] If you look at studies and it, you can see that it shows people invest in communities who invest in art, but people want to move to communities where they see that vibrancy, where people are proud of what they have and what to showcase it.

(gentle guitar music) Five weeks since I've started, I think I've spent about 10 hours, 10 to 12 hours a week on this.

This is like my last revision before it's, like, done on all sides.

[Narrator] Breeanna Benton is near the end of her Brule mural.

After starting it weeks ago, she switched the painting on the building's two larger sides.

When I gave them a design, they had opted to switch out two of the sides and I misread it or something, and I flipped these, the larger sides.

Luckily, it wasn't that big of a deal.

[Narrator] Putting on the finishing touches, Breeanna is eager to find out what people think.

I'm excited.

I love to see people enjoy it and I like to kind of be next to people and listen to what they say without them knowing that I am the artist.

'Cause that's when you get their real opinions.

(upbeat music) (tractor engine purring) And we wanna thank you for attending Brule Day 2023.

This is the 99th year.

[Narrator] It is one of the biggest days of the year in Brule.

No better day to introduce the new edition in the Village Park, Breeanna Benton's new mural.

[Announcer] It'd be a great place to take family pictures, and Brule Day's perfect for that.

So if you would like take time and take a look at all four sides of it.

[Breeanna] How do you like it?

-Oh, I love it.

-It's great.

-I absolutely love it.

-Well, thank you.

I like the three-dimensional art.

Like it's coming at you?

-Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

-(Breeanna laughing) I love patriotic, and the train, so it's a symbolic of Brule.

It's so bright and you can see it clear from the streets.

And yeah, I hope to get all my kids and go sit by the bench on that side and have a picture like our family at the park here.

It really adds a lot to our little park.

And the whole idea is to make Ogallala -or Keith County a destination.

-Yes.

People wanna come and see the murals.

We have numerous people that stop off the interstate that have a little picnic and let the kids run and play in the park.

They will share it with their friends and families.

I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of pictures taken, and the word will get out, and Brule will be so famous.

It's been really fun.

I've loved seeing everyone's reaction and just taking pictures with it, which is the kind of the whole point.

But I'm really excited that it's complete and people can now enjoy it as much as I have.

This community's really awesome and just by seeing this building, it just kind of shows every little, you know, jewel of this town in one piece.

(man laughs in distance) (bright slow music) Really approached it as what the building was first and then like thought about what kind of characters could be in the scene.

And I love the songbirds and our sunsets in Nebraska.

They're incredible, mesmerizing.

As you come around that curve, this color just burst out of the sky, and it's not trying to sell you anything, it's just a celebration of color and life.

[Narrator] For Sarah Rowe, Starseeds is complete.

A massive project required help from dozens of people.

-I love being an artist in Nebraska.

We're very lucky with the talent that's around us.

I think there's an authentic energy and an eagerness to create together.

The work I do is laborious and exhausting at times, but I can't complain because I feel like I am playing, it's a good kind of exhaustion at the end of the day.

Thanks so much for coming out and helping us celebrate today.

If I've not gotten to meet you, my name's Samantha, I'm the plant manager here.

I believe I have my entire painting crew with me.

If y'all wanna come up and take a bow.

-(crowd clapping and cheering) -Richard Harrison, we got Amelia, Zach, Mike, Mary, Bentor.

It was quite a feat to complete this, so I'm really proud to be beside all of you.

And I hope it brings joy for years to come.

For everyone that works here and passes by.

(indistinct chatter) [Narrator] Weeks of labor, thousands of gallons of paint for all who played a part, it's time to celebrate the completion of Starseeds.

It's public art for thousands who travel past each day.

- I love when you come around the corner and you're not expecting to see this massive work of art just kind of emerge from the horizon.

So I like that it is a surprise in a way, and I hope it sparks more inspiration to create more public art.

There's so many amazing talented artists in this community.

None of us had ever done anything like this before, so there was a huge learning curve.

[Narrator] For several weeks, this was home away from home for the artists, but it was an opportunity they couldn't pass up.

I was waking up at six, coming home at four, going straight to class, doing my homework, going to sleep, doing the same thing over again for the past three months.

I wanted this to be a very important learning lesson for me on, like, how a mural works and like, I just knew I had to take it on.

This facility was built in the 1920s, and so we've been a part of South Omaha for a very long time and we really wanted to be able to celebrate our team and celebrate the community at the same time.

And this was a great opportunity to be able to do that.

[Narrator] Starseeds is a large example of what art can do to a space and what public art can do to us.

We have this idea of what does a painting do, and it sits above a couch or in a museum.

It's so great to take it off the wall of the living room above the couch and to make it for everybody to join in.

You're supposed to grab somebody and be like, "Isn't this a beautiful thing to look at?"

And you're just supposed to, this supposed to start a conversation.

That's what I feel like art should do.

It's in a lot of Indigenous cultures.

Storytelling is at the core of how we build community.

So I like to really abstract these cosmic images in a way that's more universal, but it still is a nod to that Indigenous storytelling.

The colors are just popping even more with this brilliant afternoon sun.

And it just feels really joyful, and I can see everyone's smiling faces, which makes my heart explode.

I feel very much full of gratitude and honored and humbled by it all.

When someone asks you to do something like this, like, how can you say no?

Now I feel like I would love to go out into the world and do another silo.

[Narrator] Maybe it was magical that partners came together to make Starseeds happen.

From the organizations that funded and facilitated the project to the building owner and of course the several artists who worked on it.

Now, Starseeds is another example among all those across Nebraska of the Magic of Murals.

(gentle contemplative music)