Paramount Center Unveils Interactive Murals for Local Youth, Aiming to Inspire Creativity and Representation

(KNSI) – Two murals meant to inspire children to search for their inner Picasso are on display at the Paramount Center for the Arts in downtown St. Cloud.

The black and white canvases will be filled in by teens and young adults staying at Anna Marie’s Alliance, a domestic abuse shelter for women, and Pathways4Youth, a St. Cloud-based homeless shelter for those between 16 and 24 years old. Paramount Center Director of Community Engagement Aimee Miron spoke with KNSI News immediately after the unveiling and said both organizations gave her the same message, “We want art on our walls that represents our people. [They] don’t have that. And so, we were just brainstorming with something interactive that could stay on the wall [and] could stay in both places. And then we thought, how about a big mural coloring book?”

The drawings are part of the ‘Your Life in Color’ program. Miron explained bright pigments will be added to the large canvases after they’re hung at their final destinations later this year. “We have a bunch of paint to donate with the murals. And then, [kids] can also use pieces of fabric, sequins, glitter, and they will be able to fill in the murals in ways that are meaningful for them.”

The pieces are displayed at the Paramount Center all week and on Friday during the season kickoff event.

The four-foot by eight-foot pieces, created by Hibaaq Ibrahim, were commissioned in August 2023 thanks to a Central Minnesota Community Foundation grant. Another art project is already in the works for next year.

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