College Hill Business Association Unveils First in Series of Murals Created to Attract New Businesses to the Avenue
On Saturday, November 11 at 2 p.m., the College Hill Business Association (CHBA) unveils the first storefront mural in its Discover the Avenue fantasy business art project. The community-inspired art project will fill vacant storefronts on Hamilton Avenue with murals depicting the kinds of businesses College Hill residents want to see in their neighborhood. Painted by artist and College Hill resident Katie St. Clair, the first window, at 5838 Hamilton Avenue, depicts a "fantasy" ice cream shop.
The College Hill Business Association has as its goals to energize, revitalize, and market the business district. The College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation (CHCURC) and the CHBA have begun a marketing strategy using the theme Discover the Avenue. Foremost among the goals set by CHBA and CHCURC is attracting new businesses to the neighborhood.
The Discover the Avenue fantasy business art project will bring this stretch of Hamilton Avenue to life by putting art where it is hoped businesses will move in. "Why sit around and dream?" asks Phyllis Schoenberger, CHBA Secretary and Arts Project Coordinator, "If we get creative, maybe that dream will become a reality."
The effort was inspired by a successful project in Seattle, Washington, when the Columbia City neighborhood and the South East Seattle Arts Council had a half block of vacant storefronts painted to depict what was wanted and needed in the community. The murals captured the imagination of a developer and several business owners. Within a year, all murals had to be removed because "real" businesses wanted to locate there.
Discover the Avenue is the theme for each of the anticipated six storefront art projects. Each project will represent a business that was recommended in a 2002 market feasibility study or that residents have said they wanted. An ice cream store/bakery was at the top of the list of a recent resident and business survey of a "must have" business on the Avenue. New restaurants, entertainment venues, professional services and a personal service business followed in that order.
The first project is sponsored by Cincinnati Children’s College Hill Campus, Division of Psychiatry, which is currently undergoing an expansion of its College Hill Campus residential facility. Joan Burger, Outreach Coordinator from Cincinnati Children’s College Hill Campus stated "Cincinnati Children’s joined the College Hill community back in December of 2003. At that time, we had approximately 200 employees working at the College Hill Campus location. We are proud members of the College Hill Business Association and proud to support the community efforts to improve their neighborhood and business district. We are doubling in size by expanding our psychiatry services, adding on more outpatient offices, offering new employment opportunities and moving staff over from the Burnet Avenue location."
Katie St. Clair grew up in College Hill and is a College Hill resident. She graduated from the Art Academy of Cincinnati in 2005 as valedictorian of her class. She was recipient of the New York Studio Program and lived in New York City while participating in the Parsons School of Design Art Show. She then spent three months at the Academy of Fine Art in Munich, Germany, in a Munich Exchange Program. Her art work, her enthusiasm for the project, and her love for College Hill make her the perfect choice for the first project.
The second project, at 5923 will be supported and sponsored from Keep Cincinnati Beautiful. Linda Holterhoff and Robin Henderson from KCB are advisors on the project.
