“The goals of the mural program are to maintain a beautiful community, and at the same time to demonstrate to the most vulnerable members of our community that they have the ability to impact their physical environment,” says Shannon Madden, Community Developer for the Ford City Discovery Centre.

The On the Map! mural program provides professional arts instruction for local children from ages eight to thirteen in the Ford City community, an east-end neighbourhood comprised of about 800 mostly lower income families. On the Map! is just one project of the Ford City Discovery Centre, where a wide range of programs and workshops highlight Ford City’s unique heritage for local residents outside the traditional museum-going demographic.

The Discovery Centre and the mural program are already having a profound effect in Ford City. The first children’s mural from the program, unveiled in August 2002, is now installed on the corner of Drouillard and Whelpton. This panel piece called “Dreams” illustrates the children’s desires for change in their community: what they would like to see when they look out their windows.

“We’re trying to show children how much power they do have,” says Madden. “We want to show them that it is possible, if they are not content with their physical environments, to work together for change.”