SARASOTA – Inclusion, unity and pride have made their way to Downtown Sarasota.
“We wanted to have an inclusive mural like many other cities, but we wanted to have it be a little more diverse,” said Board President of Project Pride, Jordan Letschert.
You may notice downtown looking a little brighter. The five corner intersection of Cocoanut Avenue and Second Street is in the process of a colorful transformation…
“In this, not only do we have the rainbow colors which is traditional for the LGBTQ community but we added the black and brown colors as well as the trans colors to make it the most diverse mural that we know of on the Suncoast,” said Letschert.
After a year of planning, a “Pride Walk” is coming to the heart of the arts district with the goal to open hearts and minds.
“To show people that you might not know that your neighbors, your brothers, your doctors, or your lawyers or your family members they might be part of the LGBTQ community so not to rush judgement to judge anybody but to get to know them first,” said Letschert.
Detroit based artist, Joey Salamon, who has created Rainbow Street murals across the country started splashing the Sarasota Crosswalk this past weekend. He says he loves using his style of art in a meaningful way
“People that are walking past, I just want them to think that’s a cool piece of art work, and now for Sarasota it is now another art installation for people, that does have another meaning behind it as well,” said Mural Artist, Joey Salamon.
Project Pride SRQ says though we’ve hit milestones like marriage equality, we have to keep following this rainbow road.
“We see that there is anti-trans bills that are passing through Florida legislature right now and we need to constantly bring awareness to it because a lot of people don’t know what’s going on, many people don’t know who is still being persecuted even here in our own city, so if we can come together as a community, whether it’s just a beautiful piece of art that might be the first step to having someone open their heart to understanding people they might have just marginalized before,” said Letschert.
A ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for this Sunday at 1 PM. For more information you can visit Project Pride SRQ’s website here.