California Groundbreakers

Wide Open Walls (WOW) is the official name for Sacramento's annual mural festival, now in its second year. Between August 10-20, 2017, 50 artists from 12 countries are painting 40 individual surfaces, from small-business walls and back-street alleys on the Grid to silos and water towers in the suburbs. When they look around Sacramento, what will catch their eye? When they put down their brushes and paint-sprayers, what will they leave behind for us? Street art is a big deal around the globe -- think Montreal with its own famous Mural Festival, Wynwood Walls in Miami, San Francisco's Mission District. As the capital of the (currently) 5th largest economy in the world, is it Sacramento's time to join the ranks of international cities known for their colorful, vibrant street-art scenes and communities? If so, what should those look like? What images should be on those walls? Who decides what they should be and where they should go? And how do the non-painters of us living here figure into creating a world-cl