Pride Walk Street Mural Spreads Message Of Unity Downtown

SARASOTA, FL — As Project Pride SRQ, a nonprofit organization, launched last year, its board members had one simple question for Sarasota’s leaders, business owners, advocates and residents.

“Do you believe the LGBTQ community in Sarasota is visible enough?” Jordan Letschert, the group’s president, asked. “The answer was always that it was not visible enough. It should be more visible.”

When the coronavirus pandemic affected life in Florida and across the globe, it limited the types of projects that the new organization could take on. Its board members and volunteers knew that visibility for the LGBTQ community was at the heart of its mission.

“So, we wanted to do something that would be visible to the whole community. We saw other cities paint street murals in sidewalks, things like that, and began looking for an area in Sarasota where we could create something similar,” Letschert. “Visibility is such an important part of our campaign. Our community is part of the overall community. We’re police officers, lawyers, doctors.”

It doesn’t get more visible than vibrantly painted street art in the heart of a downtown intersection.

After nearly a year of raising funds, planning the project, commissioning the artist and painting the crosswalk, Project Pride SRQ unveiled its new PrideWalk street mural at the five-point intersection of Cocoanut Avenue and Second Street.

One of the hardest pieces of the project was finding a location for the temporary mural, which will remain in place for the next 12 months. With so much construction planned throughout the city, it was difficult to find a major intersection without work scheduled, Letschert said.

“What’s great about this intersection is it’s in the heart of the arts district in downtown Sarasota,” he added.

The organization commissioned Detroit-based artis Joey Salamon, who is known for his rainbow, geometric designs and creating the largest LGBT mural in the country in Grand Rapids, Letschert said.

Salamon worked with the organization to create a rendering for the mural.

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“We wanted it to be more inclusive, not just a rainbow crosswalk,” Letschert said. “A lot of these crosswalk murals we’ve seen are those traditional rainbow colors. So, we have Black and brown colors to represent those marginalized communities, and we added the colors of the trans flag. That community has had a hard time this year with a lot of the bills being passed (around the country) affect them.”

With the addition of these colors, “our mural became not only more diverse, but one of a kind,” he added. “There’s not one like it on the west coast of Florida.”

The artist arrived April 3 and completed the mural Saturday with help from the community. Various businesses, nonprofit organizations, and city, county, and regional leaders helped to paint the mural over the week.

Letschert is hopeful that after the first year, city commissioners will allow Project Pride SRQ to turn the mural into a permanent fixture downtown.

Now, the nonprofit’s sights are set for June, which is LGBT Pride Month. COVID-19 protocols in place at the time will determine the group’s programming, he said. But the city has indicated it will issue a proclamation for the LGBTQ community that month.

Project Pride SRQ has also created 75 banners to hang from city light poles and will distribute. They’re also hoping to host car and pet parades and are planning an art installation at the Mall at University Town Center.

“Things that you see in more progressive cities, are going to start coming here,” he said.

The organization is also working with Visit Sarasota to improve LGBTQ tourism in the region. And as it raises visible for the LGBTQ community, it hopes to offer support to other nonprofits in the area as a sponsor or promotional partner, Letschert said.

“We’re stronger together. If we all can share backend resources instead of everyone feeling like they’re having to dip into the same pond, then everyone can substantially grow,” he said. “So, we’ve started communication between different groups that previously operated in their own little bubble. What we want is everyone to work together.”

Learn more about Project Pride SRQ and how to support the organization here.