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Scranton's next mural will commemorate the Lenape indigenous people

Scranton's next mural downtown will have a Lenape theme, the Lackawanna County Commissioners announced Thursday. A joint project by the county and the nonprofit Scranton Tomorrow, the mural aims to raise awareness of the history of the indigenous people who first settled the Lackawanna Valley and to acknowledge and honor their legacy. Titled 'Remembrance and Continuance: The Lenape Story in Scranton,' the mural will be painted on the north side of the Brixx Building, 130 N. Washington Ave., which is owned by Art Russo's ATR Properties. A wall on the north side of the Brixx Building, 130 N. Washington Ave., in downtown Scranton, will get a Lenape-themed mural in summer of 2025. (PHOTO PROVIDED / COURTESY OF LACKAWANNA COUNTY) Commissioners Bill Gaughan, Matt McGloin and Chris Chermak unanimously approved the project Wednesday during their regular meeting, following a presentation by Maureen McGuigan, director of the Department of Arts and Culture. While most of the historical focus on Lackawanna County is on its major role in anthracite mining and the Industrial Revolution, the mural and programs it will foster will offer opportunities to examine the region's deeper past. 'Public art like this not only beautifies our communities but also preserves and celebrates our rich cultural heritage. By recognizing the Lenape, we're acknowledging our past and inspiring a future that values diversity, history, and artistic expression across our county,' McGuigan said in the announcement. Details of the mural project include: Native American artist Ben Scott Miller of Lake Placid, Florida, and Miquel Angel Belinchon Bujes, a Spaniard known as Belin, will partner to create the mural. Miller has been certified by the Heard Museum in Arizona as an official Native American artist and Belin has worked on numerous urban art projects in Europe and the United States since 2001. The artists will be paid $95,000 for the project and its total cost will not exceed $137,000. The county will not bear all of the costs as contributions so far include: $35,000 from the Lackawanna County Convention and Visitors Bureau, an independent agency; $5,000 from The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce; and $1,000 from the University of Scranton. Other grant applications are pending with the National Endowment for the Arts, the America 250, a nonpartisan initiative commemorating the nation's 250th anniversary, and several other local foundations. Russo will prepare and resurface the wall for the mural and install lighting to illuminate it. The project will reimburse him up to $20,000. A design of the mural has not yet been approved. The project will take about eight weeks to complete. Scranton Tomorrow's Mural Arts Program Chairwoman Rose Randazzo-Pizzuto said the start date is July 5. The Lenape mural likely might have elements of the river, turtles, a particular flower and matriarchal themes, she said. It likely would be the second largest mural in Scranton in square footage, after 'The Four Seasons of Lackawanna County' murals completed last year by the county on the large retaining walls on both sides of the Biden Expressway, Randazzo-Pizzuto said. That project's leftover paint spawned a smaller mural, titled 'Somnium Orbis,' which is Latin for 'Dream World,' that also was painted last year on a side wall of the 414 Biden St. building of Tequila Mexican Pub. Murals done by Scranton Tomorrow's Mural Arts Program include: • 'The Dream,' a Martin Luther King Jr. mural at 607 Mulberry St. in 2021. • 'Danseur de Corde (Rope Dancer)' Vaudeville-themed mural at 328 Penn Ave. in 2021. • 'The Good of the Hive' bee motif on a rear wall of the Scranton Civic Ballet Company building at 234 Mifflin Ave. in 2022. • 'The Office: The Story of Us' on a side wall of 503 Lackawanna Ave. in 2023. • 'The Big Band,' a 130-feet-long by 30-feet-tall mural on a side wall of 217-219 Wyoming Ave. in 2024. Meanwhile, in 2020, Frank Dubas had a mural of John Lennon painted on the east-facing, blank stucco wall of a building he owns at 518 Lackawanna Ave.