SGA will fund $15,000 for the production costs of a mural project on the Duerksen amphitheater.

The mural will be attached to a project started by Armando Minjarez, former coordinator of diversity programs at the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, called Horizontes. Horizontes aims to connect two north Wichita neighborhoods that are predominantly Latino and historically African American neighborhoods.

“The university sits on a neighborhood that the university has basically relegated since the inception of the university, with the African American community here, and since the university has started a lot of efforts to engage the residents of northeast Wichita, in addition to really ramping up the efforts to recruit Hispanic and Latinx students on to campus,” Minjarez said at last week’s Senate meeting. “We look for different areas in the university where we could have the spirit of Horizonte on campus.”

The $15,000 will come from SGA’s reserves which, according to SGA advisor Gabriel Fonseca, has roughly $700,000, and go toward the cost of lifts and high-quality paint.

“The reason why that paint is so expensive … they’re looking at the quality and time for wear and tear,” Jade Warden, fine arts senator, said.

GLeo, a popular street artist from Columbia, will paint the mural. GLeo is known for painting the east-facing side of the Beachner Grain Elevator near 21st St. The grain elevator’s artwork broke the Guinness World Record for the largest mural painted by a single artist in 2018.

The project is expected to take a month to complete.

Different projects started by Horizontes can be seen all throughout Wichita. Horizontes-project.com showcases some of these.