Dorsey Murals

murals for dorsey park

OVERTOWN, MIAMI FL

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Approximately 6,000 square feet of strikingly beautiful murals created by kids, mentoring artists

and volunteers now adorn Historic Dorsey Park in celebration of Negro League Baseball and the Historic Black community of Overtown Miami, FL

BACKGROUND

The Murals for Dorsey Park Project was a community arts, youth literacy promotion and community engagement initiative designed to engage young artists in the revitalization of Overtown, Miami's Dorsey Park with the help of mentoring artist to create murals collaboratively that commemorate Dorsey Park as the historic home of Negro League Baseball in S. Florida.

BY THE NUMBERS

Sixteen (16) mentoring artists, including nationally renowned artist Kadir Nelson contributed to

the design and development of the murals.

Fifteen (15) teenage artists interns from Overtown obtained summer jobs to continue the

development of the murals over two summers under the direction of local artist Alex Douyon.

Approximately 650 children, youth and families participated in the quarterly community paint

days held from the fall of 2013-2014.

Over twenty (20) organized groups used the project to perform their community service

including faith-based organizations, school clubs and corporate volunteers; some of which

included, The Links- Greater Miami Chapter, SHAPE Club- North Miami High School, Miami

Shores Presbyterian Church, Overtown Youth Center, Touching Miami With Love, YES Camp,

University of Miami Volleyball Team, Marlins Ayudan, Experian, Barry University and FIU

student clubs, and Unite4Good.

WATCH VIDEO PROMO

dedication ceremony

February 2015 | HISTORIC DORSEY PARK

City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and District 5 Commissioner and Chairman Keon Hardemon spoke at the Mural Dedication Ceremony at Historic Dorsey Park honoring the Legacy of the Negro League in South Florida. Special guests included the Miami Marlins, Miami Dade County Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, and Matt Haggman of the Miami Foundation. Read More...

FUNDING PARTNERS

Knight Foundation | National Endowment for the Arts

Ethel & W George Kennedy Family Foundation | City of Miami Parks and Recreation

All Aboard | Home Depot | Macy's | The LInks Inc., Greater Miami Chapter

WATCH CEREMONY VIDEO

thanks to all contibutors!

Project Summary

URGENT, Inc.’s Historic Dorsey Park Mural Project inspired the Historic Overtown community to commemorate the Negro League Baseball by painting their history and preserving their legacy. Kadir Nelson, an award winning artist internationally recognized in institutions, art galleries and museums, serves as the lead mentoring artist on the project who wrote and illustrated his best selling book “We are the Ship: the story of Negro League Baseball.” Emily Gunter, director of building literacy through art and culture spear heads this commemorative project through innovation, growth and transformation of our history. Dr. J. Arenas-Chico and “Birmingham Sam” Brison, former Negro League Baseball players are among many of the former players who contributed to illustrating this rich history of Black America in the first half of the twentieth century. Local community mentoring artists have engaged the community for the past 3 years.

In 2014, URGENT, Inc’s FACE (Film, Arts & Culture, Coding & Entrepreneurship) internship program painted history and preserved it with a mobile app, Dorsey Detector is available to download on iPhone and Android. More information can be found at: dorseydetector.com, a website developed by the FACE interns. The coding interns developed a mobile app that provides an opportunity to experience Overtown with a self-guided tour of Historic Dorsey Park. The app allows users to scan mural images from Dorsey Park to learn more about the history of Negro League Baseball in South Florida.

URGENT, Inc. integrates literacy, learning, arts and culture in all its programs. We collaborate with professional artists to mentor youth in celebrating the legacy of Negro League baseball through historic preservation of Dorsey Park. Furthermore, we empower our facilitators to use arts and culture as enrichment to celebrate and leverage student learning and achievement.

Supporters of this project include: All Aboard Florida, Branches, City of Miami, City of Miami Parks & Recreation, Ethel and George Kennedy Foundation, Experian, Home Depot, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Macy’s, Marlins Ayudans, National Endowment of the Arts, Public Allies, Punting’s Pizza, Shape Club, South East Overtown Park West Community Redevelopment Agency, Starbucks, The Links Inc. Greater Miami Chapter, Unite 4 Good, Miami Dade Cultural Affairs. Mentoring artists include: Candice Anderson, Grace Bio, Shari Campbell, Lee Damus, Chiva S. Davis, Jessica Diesel, Alex Douyon, Caridad Gutierrez, Michael Hill, Derek Jackson, Adria Llerena, T. Elliot Mansa, MLK Project, Ingrid Maturin, Robert McKnight, Adrian Mora, Colliysha Modest, Kadir Nelson, Javier Perez, Rodney Royal, Wolfgang Senates, Alejandra Suarez, Mikhail Solomon and Martha Welter.

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INTERNS REPORT ON DORSEY PARK