How Art Revitalized This Struggling Tennessee City

In the relatively sleepy town of Chattanooga, in Tennessee, you’ll find an old AT&T building. For a great many years, the building sat unused and abandoned. It had a lot in common with its hometown; a place that was once vibrant and alive, but had since fallen on hard times. This is not an unusual story, particularly for smaller American towns. While the big cities are so bustling and busy that they barely find the time for sleep, some neighborhoods have been living a permanent twilight zone of deterioration and neglect.

Chattanooga was very much one of these towns until a public art project came along and injected some serious color and personality into the community. It was the town itself, as a collective, which decided something needed to be done. So, the Public Art Chattanooga foundation hired artist Meg Saligman and asked her to create something truly remarkable.

The newly revived Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is the result. And this article will take a closer look at how and why the art project has revived this sleepy town.

The Slow Moving Past of Chattanooga

Chattanooga is a place that has struggled, in the past, to swim against the tide of economic recession. Even during the boom times, the town never really had a chance to prosper, because substantial redevelopment has, historically, been quite rare. And, if you don’t spend money, you can’t create money.

So, when the rest of America was recovering from the hard times, Chattanooga was falling into disarray. The crumbling neighborhood streets and buildings long since abandoned by big corporations came to represent normality for its residents. And, it was made worse, by the fact that the town hadn’t always been so drab and uninspiring.

There was once a rich and colorful music history in the area, built around the much loved Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, and the hip shaking cool of the liveliest street in the area, the Big Nine. In 1973, however, telecommunications giant, AT&T, moved in and constructed a huge head office, right down the middle of the Big Nine.

For Chattanooga residents, this was their ‘Berlin Wall’ moment. It disrupted and, ultimately, destroyed the spirit of the neighborhood and marked the beginning of a long period of stagnation. That is, until 2015, when the people of the town decided that something had to be done. With the AT&T building empty and abandoned, it had become an eyesore and they were keen to start talking about change.

Bringing the Martin Luther King Mural to Life

The project was directed by the people, for the people, with all of the decisions being made by residents of the town. From the very beginning then, it was clear that any redevelopment would have to represent the rich life and history of the neighborhood. Yet, it would also have to embody the spirit of change and transition. It needed to show the world that Chattanooga is a place that deserves attention.

It looks like they made the right choice with highly regarded ‘public artist’ Meg Saligman, a talented creator who specializes in large scale projects. The Chattanooga initiative was completed earlier this year and it looks fantastic. Instead of trying to hide or draw attention away from the much reviled AT&T building, Saligman had transformed it.

With the help of local artists, she has covered the drab, grey walls in a beautiful mural. It is inspired by the history and culture of the area, as well as the revolutionary figure who gave the street its name. Finally, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is restored to its former glory and the former personality of the area has been commemorated too.

Saligman has celebrated the past of the ‘Big Nine’ and its significance for the neighborhood, by hiding a series of number nines within the mural itself. This gives the art work an interactive vibe, which is quite unusual and very satisfying for residents. There are also countless references and allusions to one of the most famous speeches ever given – the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech that made Martin Luther King so famous.

Looking Ahead to the Future of Chattanooga

While Meg Saligman may not be from Chattanooga herself, she was the only aspect of this large scale art project that wasn’t sourced directly from the town. To assist her with the painting, she hired six full time local artists. This gave them the chance not only to gain as much experience as possible, but also to make a wage and contribute to the revitalization of their community. They were giving back to the place that raised them and this is what community spirit is all about.

The project was entirely funded by Chattanooga, which raised $200,000 to bring Saligman to the town and convince her to get onboard. The town chose her because she is renowned for her work in public spaces. She specializes in absorbing local styles and capturing the essence of communities in large scale public art projects. And, the people of Chattanooga have been very vocal in their praise for the MLK mural project.

It has breathed new life and personality into a town that had gotten used to being bottom of the pile. For Chattanooga residents, the mural isn’t just a celebration of the past, it’s an opportunity for change and looking ahead to the future. It is evidence of just how much a town (even a small one) can achieve when its people stand together as a united team. This little place got tired of waiting for the big fishes to arrive and shake things up, so they decided to do it for themselves.

Hopefully, the success of the Chattanooga art project will inspire other small towns to start thinking about ways to revive their own neighborhoods. In the wake of the 2008 recession, there are still plenty of communities that are struggling and could use a boost. But, rather than expecting big business or politicians to change their fortunes, maybe they can start their own revolution – just like Martin Luther King once did.