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BMA Places Third for Neighborhood Project

/ In the Community

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Associate Curator of Education Suzy Harris and Artist in Residence Toby Richards accept award

The Birmingham Museum of Art continually strives to make positive change in the Birmingham community, planning creative projects to touch lives through the power of art. The BMA’s commitment to our surrounding communities has not gone without notice. In fact, this May, the BMA Education Department received national recognition by winning third place at the 2015 Neighborhoods, USA Conference. The award was for Best Neighborhood Program, given to community art projects in neighborhoods across the nation.

The award was in recognition of a community day of service, Into the Streets. Artist-in-Residence Toby Richards led the creation of decorative panels for the Shields Conference Center, joining together students and teachers from throughout Birmingham. With representatives from UAB, Horizons School, Birmingham City Schools, Jefferson County Schools, Hoover Schools, and Birmingham City districts, the project truly represented a community effort.

The BMA appreciates this recognition and plans to continue these community-based service projects so that other Birmingham neighborhoods may enjoy lively, creative visuals like those at Shields Conference Center. We extend our thanks to our community partners who joined us in this project, and we are especially grateful for the work of our staff members Toby Richards and Associate Curator of Education Suzy Harris (pictured). Their creativity and energy to bettering our community through art is inspiring; we cannot wait to see what projects they will bring to Birmingham next!