The 2021 Pawtucket Arts Festival will be a celebration of the city's Arts Panel Grants Program and will feature a mural titled “KARMA” by artist Jennifer Boyle-Hebda at SHRI urban outreach yoga studio. The mural was selected to receive funding from the annual competitive arts panel grants program offered by the City of Pawtucket. “KARMA” represents intentional actions. Our actions, come back to us in the future, helping us to learn from the past and create a better future. Our intention with this mural at the corner of Pine Street and Conant Street in Pawtucket, is to inspire the community and fill this once blighted space with light, energy and color! Anyone coming and going from this historic site will see the 5 impactful scenes depicting Growth, Building, Community, Service and Expansion within the community in which we live, teach, work and invest. This is the future home of Shri, which currently serves more than 8,500 residents every year with yoga outreach and wellness programs; the site will also house a “grab and go” cafe with the ARC of Blackstone Valley, market-rate lofts and affordable housing units. After COVID-19, this project is imperative to bring some artistic light to a neighborhood in need of great revitalization work, and this mural will support the future construction of the site setting a positive tone for the neighborhood with a call to engage within it.
