‘Neighborhood Gems’: Learn about the new Dolores Huerta mural and Quan Caston’s Chess and Art Academics Club | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Adam Carr
September 27, 2021
It’s back!
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service is collaborating with Historic Milwaukee for a second installment of “Neighborhood Gems: Behind the Scenes,” taking place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 29.
The free digital event, part of Doors Open 2021, will feature five-minute “lightning round” presentations from seven community projects, using multimedia and storytelling to share their backstory.
You can sign up to join the event in Zoom or watch the Facebook Live stream on our Facebook page. You can also stream 2020’s Neighborhood Gems event here.
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In the lead up, we’re publishing mini-features on the projects, including the new Dolores Huerta mural and developments in Clarke Square as well as Quan Caston’s Chess and Art Academics Club.
Artists Nyia Luna and GirlMobb hosted community events this summer to engage neighbors in the creation of their Dolores Huerta mural. (Photo provided by Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative)
Public art has blossomed on Cesar E. Chavez Drive in recent years and this summer, artists Nyia Luna and GirlMobb added an important dimension to that collection, creating a collaborative mural honoring labor rights legend Dolores Huerta located at 1247 S. Cesar Chavez Drive. Blocks from artist Ck Ledesma’s representation of Huerta’s iconic rallying call “Si Se Puede,” the new mural is the most recent project of the Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative artist-in-residence program.
This presentation will be given by artist Nyia Luna and Dr. Patricia Nájera, executive director of Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative, who will share other developments taking place in the neighborhood.
Quan Caston first began teaching chess to Milwaukee youth in 1996. (NNS file photo by Andrea Waxman)
A multitalented veteran of community work, Quan Caston spent this summer working with Metcalfe Park youths participating in his Chess and Art Academic Club. Caston uses chess sets and dictionaries as tools to open the door for lessons in literacy, critical thinking, intergenerational relationships and more. The club was organized in partnership with Metcalfe Park Community Bridges.
Caston will give the presentation.