The StoryConnect Podcast

Flint Energies has started a matching grant program with artists and community groups to paint murals in towns around its service territory. In addition to adding beauty to the community, they’re seeing positive economic impacts.

Creators & Guests

Host
Andy Johns
Vice President of Marketing

What is The StoryConnect Podcast?

StoryConnect features interviews with marketers, communicators, CEOs and other leaders at cooperative and independent broadband companies, electric cooperatives and municipal power providers. The goal of the podcast is to help listeners discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers. It is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources.

Intro:
A production of Pioneer Utility Resources.

StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape
their stories and connect with their customers.

Andy Johns:
How can art change your community and help your PR?

That's what we'll be talking about on this episode of
StoryConnect: The Podcast.

My name is Andy Johns, your host with Pioneer.

And I'm joined on this episode by Marian McLemore, who is Flint
Energies' Vice President of Cooperative Communications, based

down in Warner Robins, Georgia.

Marian, thanks so much for joining me.

Marian McLemore:
Thank you for inviting me.

Andy Johns:
So I, you know full disclosure, I ran across this story in the RE
magazine a couple of months back and kind of flagged it, dogeared

that page and said, we got to come up with this because you're
rural mural program, which I have been practicing because I knew

I'd need to say "rural mural" a few times on this episode.

But your rural mural, see (laughs).

Your rural mural program that you've got going there, it seemed
to me like an outstanding example of a co-op

going out into the community and, you know, kind of thinking
outside the box.

So tell us a little bit of the basics about the rural mural
program.

Marian McLemore:
Sure. It's a economic development program for our rural
communities.

It is a creative placemaking program where we partner with our
local rural communities by providing them

a grant, a matching grant.

They have to give some skin into the game to play, so to speak.

But, we provide a grant of up to $10,000.

The community is responsible for at least $2,500, or the
remaining amount of money to secure the artist to paint the mural

in their community.

Andy Johns:
And you started this back in, I think, 2019.

You're an artist yourself.

But where does the idea come from to do something like this?

Marian McLemore:
Sure. So yes, I'm a painter on the side, my side hustle, my
creative outlet.

But, I was challenged by our previous CEO, Bob Ray to come

up with a creative economic development effort.

And he knew, that I was artistic, you know, and

our department, the department I'm over, is involved with
economic and community development.

So it's taking my day job with my hobby and passion for the arts
and kind of marrying the two together.

And so came up with the idea, thought it would be cool to have
some public art in rural communities

and set about in 2019 or actually earlier than that, like 2017,
2018, to do some

research about other grant programs for murals or public art,
and sort of came up with

our own program based on that research.

Andy Johns:
Yeah. And the economic development piece is something I certainly
didn't realize before.

I kind of started doing some research on your program.

You know, I want to get into some of the specifics, and we're
going to do our best to talk through art and paintings in an

audio medium, I guess, and we'll see what we can do there.

But, before we get too much into the detail of it, I mean, talk
to me a little bit about the economic development piece.

Because to me, you know, like you said, I think murals are cool
when I've seen them.

You know, and it does change your perception of a place.

But I mean, some of the stats, you know, about the downtown
areas and the blight and all that.

I mean, it's pretty stark what it can do just to have a mural go
up in a downtown.

Marian McLemore:
Absolutely. I view it as that once we put a mural up, it's like a
veil has been removed

from the eyes of the residents in those communities because they
see, wow.

Look at what, you know, some paint did on that once, you know,
probably very ugly wall or plain wall.

And it just sort of sparks this, you know, new outlook on their
community.

And they're, you know, they're looking like, wow, if that one
wall has changed my perception of this

community, you know, what else can our community, you know,
rally around, and what can we do?

And we have so many examples of where those murals have
transformed those

communities. And one simple story was in Butler, Georgia, where
we have two murals.

We had someone mentioned that, you know, just an average citizen
used to, you know, walk by litter on the street in the

downtown area.

But once those murals, you know, were installed, they started
picking up the trash, picking up the litter because they felt

pride in their community now that, you know, there was something
beautiful there, and they wanted to help with that,

you know, transformed look in their community.

Andy Johns:
Yeah. I mean, because I've heard before, you know, what is it?

The broken window theory or the broken window effect, kind of
where just a little sign of broken window, you know,

leads to everybody thinking of places worse than it may be.

So I guess this is a reverse of that, that, you know, a little
beautification throwing up, you know, really stunning piece of

art, does change everything from, you know, the perception of
it.

And then that leads to, you know, some of the areas with the
vacancy rates and all that.

I mean, you guys have seen.

Sure, the civic pride piece picking up the trash, but it goes
beyond that to, like you're saying, truly economic development

where there's more activity in a town because it's a pleasing,
you know, pleasing place to be.

Marian McLemore:
Absolutely. Our first one was in the town of Oglethorpe down in
Macon County, Georgia.

It's probably one of our poorest counties in our service
territory.

And we put that mural up.

And the downtown development director at the time, you know,
started seeing changes.

And they actually added on to it.

They actually placed large canvas photographs in empty store
windows.

They did an art contest among the community to install lamp
posts with like a

medallion with local artists work in it.

And combination of those things turn that tide from 80% blight
to

20% blight in just a couple of years.

Andy Johns:
That's awesome.

Marian McLemore:
Investors were coming in, buying up all the buildings, starting
to renovate them, putting in new businesses, you

know, retail and lofts and that sort of thing.

So it, you know, that mural was a spark for that community to
totally transform the

economic outlook of that town.

Andy Johns:
Yeah. And who better to be kind of a catalyst for something like
that than the, you know, electric co-op serving the territory?

That's awesome.

Marian McLemore:
And one interesting fact is most of the downtowns are murals are
located in are actually in

IOU territories.

We serve the counties surrounding the municipalities that the
murals are in.

So, you know, but that's where our members they go in to those
towns to do business.

And it just generates, you know, great economic growth for them
after years of brain drain.

You know, we're in rural Georgia.

And most of the youth have moved off to Atlanta or the, you
know, Savannah, bigger cities to find employment.

And this is one way that we can hopefully give a resurgence of,
you know, a quality of life where those youth can

move back at some point in their adulthood.

Andy Johns:
Yeah, I love that.

And you answered one of the questions I had, but let's get into
the nitty gritty of how it works.

So you said it's a matching grant.

Usually who's doing the matching?

Not the artists themselves, but I imagine it's like Chambers of
Commerce or Downtown Development Authorities.

Who's the other side of the match?

Marian McLemore:
Yes, yes.

So the the funds from the co-op actually come from unclaimed or
abandoned capital credits here in Georgia.

After so many years that comes back to the co-op, but we have to
use it for, you know, charitable organizations, economic

development or education.

So the economic development funds from those abandoned capital
credits help fund our rural murals program.

Now, the matching part from the community, yes that comes from
your Downtown Development

Authorities to groups of just

concerned citizens or even business owners that might, you know,
see the possibilities

of, you know, a better quality of life in those towns.

So in the town of Buena Vista in Marion County, Georgia,
actually there's business owners who have

already invested a lot in the downtown square there and wanted
wanted a mural.

So they came to the table.

They, you know, supplied the matching grant funds, and they've
actually been great.

They found another partner to the Nature Conservancy, excuse me,
and were able to

expand the mural bigger than we had originally planned.

And they've actually worked with the University of Georgia.

And as of Monday on Earth Day, they made it the first probably
interactive or

immersive mural, in that they planted native plants in front of
that mural.

Andy Johns:
Perfect.

Marian McLemore:
That are painted in that mural, but are now there's a patch of
land in front of that mural where they planted the plants that

are in the mural.

So, folks, when they come by to take their photos, they can
actually stand within the foliage and get a sort of a 3D

effect. So that's pretty cool.

Andy Johns:
That's very cool.

Every question leads me to a few other questions.

But how, you know, how much does a mural cost?

Where do you pick the, you know, are you selecting the sites?

Are there some spots that work great for a mural and others that
aren't?

Who makes the decision on where they're going to be and how you
pick which ones?

I know that's 4 or 5 questions thrown at you.

Marian McLemore:
No, that's fine.

We have an application process where the, you know, the Chamber
of Commerce or the community group fills

out. They have selected the location.

Our requirements is that it's, you know, highly visible, that
the property taxes are up

to date because we don't want to invest money on property that
might get torn down.

Andy Johns:
Yeah, yeah. That's smart.

Marian McLemore:
Whatever. You know, we want to be mindful of our members' money.

So, we have them provide proof of that, you know, provide proof
that the owner is okay with putting a

mural there.

Andy Johns:
That sounds important. That last part.

Marian McLemore:
Yes. Yes, absolutely.

And then, you know, they come up with the reasoning, you know,
what do they want to see on the mural?

Most of the murals are very indicative of the community that
they are placed in, whether it be, you

know, the industry that is most prominent in that community to
history,

to citizens that you know are, you know, famous

in that area or from that area.

You know, hobbies, pastimes, anything that makes a unique mural
to that community.

They submit the application.

They usually pick the artist.

If they don't have an artist, we have sort of a stable of
artists that we can choose from to help work with them

based on, you know, the needs there.

But they submit, you know, the application with all those
documents that everything's up to date.

They have a theme, what they want the theme, you know, the mural
to be about.

Usually we ask them to go ahead and get an estimate if they've
already chosen the artist so they know,

and we know, how much the overall cost is going to be.

You know, we provide $10,000.

They have to come up with the rest.

So we go through that process.

They submit it by deadline.

We have judges usually.

Art lovers or art educators, somebody that's, you know, in the
art scene to review the applications.

And then we choose the locations based on, you know, what we
think is best representative of, you

know, Flint service territory.

We have, you know, a lot of competition.

You know, we are giving out three grants this particular year.

Actually, we'll make that announcement later this month.

So by the end of the month, we'll announce three new winners.

But, you know, really, it's, you know, it's a collaborative
effort.

You know, we want to make sure the money is spent well.

The location is good.

The artist is, you know, approved.

All the things, we want this to be as seamless as possible.

Andy Johns:
Yeah, yeah. And it sounds like that's a smart way to do it.

Just to describe some of these, you know, looking at the
pictures the Butler, Georgia one's got the crossroads in the

middle, a train on one side kind of coming out of the building,
and it looks like a side-by-side or four wheeler on the other

side. You've got the Ellaville's got the Mallard up top with a
big magnolia blossom at the bottom.

Looks like a courthouse at the top and a tractor with the
Ellaville name.

I like this one, the bloom where you're planted with big
sunflowers and cone flowers.

And another looks like a magnolia there.

So some tiger swallowtails or some of the yellow butterflies on
some of the other buildings.

Just really eye catching stuff.

A lot of them, like you said, do tie back to the communities and
the histories, which I think is a really cool connection to make.

Marian McLemore:
Absolutely. And we, you know, we have turned down applications
because they weren't eye-catching enough or.

There was something controversial.

We try not to, you know, include anything that's political or,
you know, sensitive in nature.

And so, fortunately with our the artists that work with us, they
know exactly what we're looking for.

So they actually help in the discussion process.

You know, I don't remember which one, but there was a mural that
somebody wanted to

paint a copy of a monument that was already in the community, a
Confederate

memorial monument.

And even though, yes, that's very important to their community.

Andy Johns:
Sure.

Marian McLemore:
We felt like that might not be the best thing to include in the
mural, because it's a sensitive issue,

and we did not want – you know, we want to make it public art
for everyone.

Not for a select few.

Andy Johns:
Are you guys in all of the the counties that you serve or all the
communities yet?

Or do you try to kind of move it around to different ones?

Do you have some folks that have really embraced it and others
that are a little behind the curve?

Marian McLemore:
Yes.

We have a few.

Well, we serve 17 counties.

Andy Johns:
Yeah. I knew y'all were very spread out.

Marian McLemore:
We'd like to be in all 17 at some point, but we're really
starting with the most rural,

most affected communities first.

And so after we award the three at the end of this month, we
will have touched almost every

one of those counties, and then we can move forward.

Andy Johns:
That's very cool.

Marian McLemore:
We do have one community that has four, and that's Fort Valley.

It's in Peach County.

They've just loved the program and have seen so much increase in
foot traffic that

they continue to find pockets of money to continue the program.

They've applied almost every year.

Butler has two, but most all the other communities just have
one.

But, you know, the next round will probably, there's a
possibility another community would be adding their second one.

And then there's a couple communities that would be their very
first murals.

So we're excited about that.

So we have ten completed now.

We hope to have 13 done by the end of the year total.

And we're going to keep continuing as long as we can get those
abandoned capital credits.

And then ultimately, our goal is to create a trail, a mural
trail through our service territory to connect the

dots and get folks off those interstates, travel the back roads,
and stop at all of the murals, or most all the murals,

and really increase that economic development along that trail.

Andy Johns:
Yeah, that's really smart to have a bigger master plan like that
where it all fits together.

Good for you. Two last questions for you.

What have you learned, or what surprised you?

Maybe, you know, doing the rural mural program.

What has surprised you that you didn't think of when you started
it?

Or if not surprised, just lessons learned along the way.

Marian McLemore:
Lessons learned.

Really, I forgot about the public art aspect of it that folks in
our rural communities

don't have art museums and art galleries and things of

that nature to go to.

So this might be the first time someone in one of these rural
communities has actually seen art up close and

personal. And that is transformative, too, to those especially
young

minds. You know, these kids that are like growing up are like,
wow, maybe I can grow up to be an artist or a muralist or graphic

designer or whatever just by seeing these murals in their
communities.

Andy Johns:
Yeah.

Marian McLemore:
And that's probably been the most surprising that we've brought
public art to the masses, the rural masses.

Andy Johns:
Yeah. And for them to see how a little bit of public art like
that can change the whole way

that a downtown area looks or the perception of it.

I mean, it's wild how something big and splashy like that can
convert the whole thing.

Marian McLemore:
Yes.

Andy Johns:
Last question I had for you.

If there's somebody who's listening and they said, you know,
we've got some unused capital credits, we could do something like

this. What advice would you have for somebody who's listening
and thinking, hey, we've got some areas that could benefit from

this. Maybe we should start something like this.

What advice or tips would you give them?

Marian McLemore:
I personally would say, just do it.

This is our love letter, our love letters to our communities.

It's showing that we care about them and showing that, you know,
these communities are already beautiful, but

let's show that beauty to the world.

And if this one mural can spark some interest in these towns,
then

that's what we're going to do.

And hopefully, you know, they'll reap the benefits of it.

And we're just, you know, we love our communities and want to
show that love to them.

I would say do your research, and if you have any questions on
how to get it started, please don't hesitate to contact

me because I love talking about this and would love to walk you
through, you know, all the points of it, how we

got it started. You know where we are today, anything that has
come up since.

You know, since we, you know, started it in 2019.

And you know what you can do with it.

But it's just been a great program.

We've seen so much growth, so much, a true renaissance in some
of these towns.

And it's just the beginning.

Andy Johns:
Yeah. Especially bringing in all those other partners like you're
doing along the way.

I mean, that's awesome, so.

Well, thank you so much for for sharing this idea with us, and
hopefully there'll be some more rural murals to keep popping up

until y'all run out of buildings.

Marian McLemore:
Oh, I'd love that.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to share this story.

Andy Johns:
Sure. She is Marian McLemore.

She's the vice president of cooperative communications for Flint
Energies in Georgia.

I'm your host, Andy Johns with Pioneer.

And until we talk again, keep telling your story.

Outro:
StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a
communications cooperative that is built to share your story.

StoryConnect is engineered by Lucas Smith of Lucky Sound Studio.