Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Lead: Nico Cathcart (Richmond, VA) | @nicocathcart
Hadasah Michaels (Burnsville, NC) | @hadasah.morelove
Kat Cornelius (Concord, NC) @tuxedokat.imaginarium
Molly Chopin, Raleigh, NC | @mollychopinart

Rural Futures - Pathways to Work
Lead: Catherine Kaleel (Black Mountain, NC) | @catherinekaleel
Lee Meh (Winston-Salem, NC) | @lee1_art
Ashlei Franklin (Marshall, NC) | @artsyeyecandy
Kira Bass (Powder Springs, GA) | @mkay.kira

Women at Work
Lead: Claire Alexandre (Durham, NC) | @onlyclairity
Georgia Tardy (Raleigh, NC) | @georgiatardyart
Kimberly Cusack (Greenville, NC) @cusack.studios
Jenn Hales (Raleigh, NC) @jennhales

Theme Selection

We have our wishlist, generated by students several years back, but the list is LONG and we needed to prioritize. During the fall of 2023, TOSS collected 284 votes from the community to help determine the focus for the 2024 murals. We collected this feedback from the Historic Morganton Festival and through an online survey. The top themes were: Deaf and otherly abled community (27.55%), Woman in Burke (16.96%), Native Americans (16.9%)*, Industries ( 13.16%), Cornerstone businesses (11.51%).

In conversation with our planning partners and consultants we decided to narrow our focus to:

• The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community

• Women in the Workplace (focusing on small business, civic - engaged jobs, and the arts)

• Pathways to Work (featuring trades)

Once the Steering Committees are formed in the early spring, the focus will be even more narrowly defined and public “listening sessions” in May will lock in more specifics.

*After much consideration, we decided not to pursue a mural featuring Native Americans since a big part of our project requires active participation and guidance from the community featured in the mural. With only 1.0% of our population in Burke identifying as Native American, TOSS doesn’t currently have a network of community members who identify as Cherokee or Catawba. This would be an essential component in our project and prohibited us from moving forward. If you know a resident in Burke that identifies as Native American, connect us! We’d love to start the conversation.

During a summer camp in 2021,  high school students created a “wish list” for future public art projects after completing a public art audit. We walked around Morganton and discussed what we saw (or didn’t see). While we can’t make a mural for everything on the wishlist, we want to do our part in creating more inclusive public spaces. Inspired by our campers, TOSS has been building a database of projects, resources, and public art that highlight some of our less represented communities in Burke. You can see the research and interviews we’ve conducted here.