Programs

The Mural Music & Arts Project educates, empowers, and inspires youth through the arts! Since 2001, MMAP has created a public art legacy while serving 12,264 youth, who have installed 206 murals, produced 162 original songs, and reached over 33,300 individuals through exhibits and performances.

Teen Mural Program (TMP)

MMAP’s flagship program, TMP, provides Mural Assistants, “MA’s” with the ability to participate in a ten-week process of research, design, and development of artistic expression, including: mural making, lyricism and DJ’ing. MA’s conduct primary and secondary source directed research, interviewing field experts and community historians about the summer’s theme, which reflects community identity, reclamation of space, and voice.

The Mural Program has two phases: Research and Expression, and culminates in a design charrette where MA’s deconstruct what they have learned and conceptualize it through imagery for a mural. During the Expression Phase, participants break into artistic cohorts: visual, lyrical, and DJ. The visual cohort gains painting skills and intricately learns the process of mural making. The lyrical cohort writes original lyrics and gains performance experience; ensuring students understand the process of song production. The DJ cohort learns basic scratching and mixing and produces an original beat. Participants develop leadership skills and improve job readiness through the program. Students finally unveil their hard work to the community through a Mural Unveiling and Community Celebration.

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History through Hip Hop (HHH)

History through Hip Hop promotes social change by employing youth to create, perform and exhibit art and to activate and mobilize community. Through a project-based, thematic curriculum that meets California Visual and Performing Arts Standards, youth investigate historic barriers to access, learn contemporary issues in society, music and media, and design strategies to bring equity through their art. HHH develops a respectful, inclusive culture by partnering teenagers, young adults, and professionals to explore complex topics through the lens of Hip Hop art and culture. The program fosters patience, collaboration, and supports the development of non-cognitive factors and competencies such as self-discipline, motivation, flexibility, empathy, resilience, grit and cooperation. Through HHH’s curriculum, focus on collaborations, and high expectations, youth participants are motivated to become active leaders and advocates while expressing themselves through hip hop’s eloquent story-telling platform.

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Public Art Consulting (PAC)

PAC employs teens after school and during the summer to work alongside professional artists to fulfill public and private art commissions.

MMAP’s Public Art Consulting gives artistic teens an opportunity to gain professional art experience and to create their own portfolios and resumes, creates revenue that helps sustain MMAP through the fulfillment of income-generating art commissions, and retains skilled, professional artists to ensure high quality artwork while developing teens’ skills in art and business.

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Ravenswood City School District - Professional Development

MMAP seeks to provide RCSD staff with the necessary training to provide students with critical Visual and Performing Arts and Science Technology Engineering Art and Math (STEAM) skills for them to thrive.

MMAP serves as a resource to the district as it identifies, prioritizes, and installs state-of-the-art. As part the partnership with RCSD, MMAP develops and implements standards-based, culturally relevant, interdisciplinary VAPA curriculum along with monthly professional development workshops for art teachers, addressing Common Core State Standards, Art Disciplines, and English Language Development. Because 93% of students in the district are primarily Spanish speaking, and 2,164 of the students in Grades K-8 are English Learners, MMAP seeks to use art and art classes to support literacy.

MMAP also works to support and enhance the district’s focus on STEM by embedding arts content into science-based curricula. In consultation with Stanford’s School of Education, School of Design, and Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity, MMAP is designing and establishing innovative ways to embed STEAM learning in science and arts classes.

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Would you like to see MMAP at work? See the Mural Videos and learn more about MMAP's programs, music and artwork.