New Public Art in Belmopan: Mural Celebrates Independence
In honor of the fortieth anniversary of Belize’s Independence, a number of murals are going up across the country. The largest one has already been completed in Belmopan at the Isidoro Beaton Stadium. The four hundred-foot-long work took two weeks to complete with area artists volunteering their time and talent. The project also had the help of over one hundred community volunteers, of all ages, who could only work a few at a time due to social distancing for COVID. Many of the images depict the diverse faces of Belize. News Five’s Belmopan correspondent Rasheed Palacio provided this report on Belize’s newest public artwork.
Lugwig Palacio
Dr. Lugwig Palacio, Administrator, Belmopan City Council
“This was definitely a team effort initiated by the Belmopan City Council under the leadership of Mayor Sharon Palacio. Of course, when it was decided that the municipalities needed to do a mural for the 40th anniversary of our significant independence, all of us became excited. Immediately we began to mobilize by getting the best minds together, and of course the bests artists. In the person of Raquel and the lead artist Mr [Fernando] Reyna.”
Raquel Rodriquez
Raquel Rodriquez, Artist and Project Manager
“Coming into this project we did have a fund that we were supposed to keep. More or less it was blown out by double because we did have a vision as artists we sometimes go beyond what we were supposed to be in our little shell, but I did try to make Mayor Sharon Palacio and the city council and everyone just bear with me because I knew the community effort would be there and we wouldn’t really have to be spending that much money. However, the project was funded mainly by the NCC and having City Council pledge two other sponsors for their donations.”
Oscar Mira
Oscar Mira, Area Representative, Belmopan
“The community spirit was felt. I think the biggest achievement that we got from that project was as I would visit, I could see that the volunteers that were out there were very receptive to the idea of giving them an opportunity to have something that they can be proud of. For me, as the area representative of Belmopan, we want to do something special. And I think that Fernando and artists and Raquel from Raquel Arts I think they captured that for us. We are so proud, very proud of the work that was done and now we will continue working at it because we need to do something beautiful so we need to do some landscaping and that is the second phase so we are also including the community, to come out and help, to come out and volunteer. The landscaping is going to start very, very soon. And we want to have our community of Belmopan participate as well.”
And if you found yourself envying the people of Belmopan for their mural, the project manager says the National Celebrations Committee will be rolling out murals in all the districts.
