The City of Flagstaff is seeking applications from qualified artists to create 3D Artwork at a new park adjacent to the Southside's historic Murdoch Center.  Budget is $45,000.  Travel funding may be available for out-of-state artists.

The details and application are here: https://www.flagstaff.az.gov/DocumentCenter/View/76137/Solicitation2023-127SouthsideMurdochParkArt19April2023?bidId=

Background: The Flagstaff Heritage Preservation Office in conjunction with the Flagstaff Parks Recreation Open Space & Events (PROSE) plans to develop a small southside neighborhood public park out of the present non-designated landscaped areas west of the Murdoch Center.

The Beautification, Arts & Sciences program has allocated funding for an artwork. The Park will be independently managed separate and distinct from the Murdoch Community Center, a leased City property.

The adjacent Murdoch Community Center is a Black heritage site. The building was constructed on the site of the Dunbar School, which was built in 1926 after the state legislature mandated racial segregation. Prior, all Flagstaff children had attended school together. The school board tried to educate Black youngsters in a separate room in Emerson School rather than move them off campus, but the state forced it to build a separate school. The new school building was named after Paul Laurence Dunbar, the son of an escaped slave, whose songs, short stories, and poems, such as "Lyrics of Lowly Life", reached an international audience. In 1952-534, before the Supreme Court Decision of Brown vs. Board of Education, Superintendent Sturgeon Cromer and Dunbar School's principal, Wilson C Riles, a 1940 graduate of the Arizona State Teachers College (renamed NAU in 1965), led a community wide effort to eliminate school segregation. In 1954 they transferred Dunbar's seventh- and eighth graders to the South Beaver School and voluntarily closed. The principal during the 1930s, Cleo Wilson Murdoch, a highly regarded community leader. In the 1980s, when Butler Street was widened to four lanes, the Murdoch Center was renovated, reduced in size, and moved to its current location and edifice, allowing the community to continue paying homage to both Dunbar and Murdoch.

Presently the Murdoch Community Center is an inter-generational and multicultural center reflecting the different cultures represented in the southside. It is home to the Southside Community Association, The Murdoch Center serves the Southside Neighborhood and surrounding community in Flagstaff, AZ, and offers a large meeting hall for clubs, organizations, city/neighborhood meetings, as well as private parties. The new park is within the Southside neighborhood, which is in the heart of downtown Flagstaff, Arizona. Historically a racially diverse neighborhood, the Southside is known for its diversity, businesses (including craft breweries and pizzerias on and around San Francisco Street), and walkability. It is home to multigenerational families and students alike, as its Southern border is comprised of Northern Arizona University. Flagstaff’s City Council unanimously adopted a community plan for the Southside Neighborhood in 2020. It can be found here: https://www.flagstaff.az.gov/4428/Southside-Community-Specific-PlanArchiv

Jana L Weldon

Beautification, Arts & Sciences Program Manager

928.863.4298 (Primary: Work Cell)

928.213.2969 (Desk/Voicemail Only)

211 W Aspen Ave

Flagstaff, AZ 86001

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Thoreau