Park Slope Shelter's Mural Replacement Project Looks To Raise $10K

BROOKLYN, NY — A Park Slope soup kitchen and transitional housing shelter looking to replace its beloved mural is getting support from a local art group — and neighbors.

Arts Gowanus, a non-profit promoting art in Brooklyn, is aiming to raise $10,000 to pay a team of artists to replace the storm-demolished mural at CHiPS, short for Community Help in Park Slope.

In addition to fundraising on behalf of the Fourth Avenue shelter, Arts Gowanus will advise on the project and help source artist submissions for the new piece of art.

"We want to pay a team of artists to imagine and paint a new [mural]," Arts Gowanus' executive director Johnny Thornton wrote on the group's GoFundMe, which has raised just over $1,000 as of Monday. "We'll be releasing an open call for proposals once we've funded the project," he added.

CHiPS announced last month that it was looking to commission new art for its building after hurricane-related repairs necessitated its longtime mural's takedown.

For over 15 years, a mural titled "I Deal, I Dream, I Do" adorned the building, depicting some of the different struggles and accomplishments of women today — including parenting, learning and creative expression.

That project was completed by Groundswell, a social change-focused arts non-profit that worked with a group of young women to design and paint the mural.

While the original mural is now gone, CHiPS hopes that the next piece of art embodies its same kind of energy: the group said it's looking for a mural to be "a beacon of hope in the Park Slope community."

CHiPS, which serves food to nearly 200 people per-day six days a week and is a home to up to 10 mothers and their children at a time, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary in Park Slope, and is looking to expand further into the neighborhood in the upcoming decades, Patch reported earlier this year.

The shelter is currently closed for repairs, but will reopen Sept. 6 and is still accepting donations, according to a post.

Related Article: After Losing A Beloved Mural, Park Slope Shelter Plans For New Art