Subject
title
Approval of Final Design for Twinbrook Community Recreation Center Annex Mural
end
Department
City Manager's Office (CMO)
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Mayor and Council approve the final design for the Twinbrook Community Recreation Center Annex Mural by Artist, LaToya Peoples.
Discussion
Artist LaToya Peoples was awarded the contract to design and paint the Twinbrook Community Recreation Center Annex Mural. At the Council Meeting on July 29, 2024, the Mayor and Council were presented with the mural design for their approval. The Mayor and Council approved the preliminary design and requested additional community engagement. To fulfill this request, an in-person community engagement session with the artist and Twinbrook residents, and a second community engagement survey were conducted.
The rendering for the final design of the mural is attached (see Attachment 1: TCRC Annex Final Mural Design). The mural will be painted on Polytab in Peoples’ studio and then installed on the side of the Annex.
Mayor and Council History
Artist LaToya Peoples was awarded the contract to design and paint the Twinbrook Community Recreation Center Annex Mural. At the Council Meeting on July 29, 2024, the Mayor and Council were presented with the mural design for their approval. The Mayor and Council did not approve the design based upon the approach to community engagement for the project and requested additional community engagement.
The July 2024 Staff Report may be found using the following link: _07292024-7242 <https://www.rockvillemd.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07292024-7242>
Public Notification and Engagement
On Wednesday, February 19, 2025, a community engagement session was held so that LaToya Peoples could meet with residents of Twinbrook. The Arts and Culture Program Manager worked with the Communication and Community Engagement Department to notify the community through Rockville Reports and distributed flyers and posters at the Twinbrook Community Recreation Center. The Arts and Culture Program Manager also directly emailed members of the Artist Selection Committee for this project, the Twinbrook Community Association, and attended the January 2025 Twinbrook Community Association meeting to encourage people to attend. Attendance at the community engagement session included three Twinbrook residents, one resident from another Rockville neighborhood, two Cultural Arts Commissioners, and the Arts and Culture Program Manager.
During the community engagement session, Peoples shared her experience and design process with residents and talked about how her research of Twinbrook’s history informed the mural’s initial design. Peoples shared that the figures of children in the mural could be changed to depict important residents of Twinbrook, and flowers could be changed to depict flowers important to the neighborhood. Residents gave feedback about the initial design and suggested changes in the landscape. Peoples and workshop attendees decided together that another survey would be helpful in the mural’s final design. An electronic survey was created and shared with the Twinbrook Community Association, and a poster with a QR code to access the survey was posted in Twinbrook Community Recreation Center. The survey was open from February 24 through March 21, 2025, and 38 people participated.
The majority of survey respondents expressed favorable views of the mural and a need for the mural to depict the generation of veterans and houses that formed Twinbrook after World War II. Of those who responded, 53.57% expressed that they wanted people in the mural to be more diverse in age and 78.57% expressed that the figures needed to be more diverse in ethnicity. The resulting figures depict an African American child, an older Caucasian Military Veteran, and a Hispanic female in her twenties or thirties. These ethnicities were specifically listed by survey respondents as those that should be represented in the mural because, according to the survey, they are the largest ethnicities in Twinbrook. The Piscataway People are represented by the print on the lower left of the mural and the ear of corn in the child’s hands. There was a request to add Black Eyed Susans, and they were added. Twinbrook residents were asked to email pictures and biographies of important residents as possible people who would be depicted in the mural to the Arts and Culture Program Manager. Of those who responded, 60.71% of respondents said they did not have anyone they would like to be depicted, and 39.29% said they had no opinion. At the time the survey closed, no pictures were received. It was requested at the In-Person Workshop in February that the mountains be removed, and they were. The resulting final design depicts Twinbrook’s history from when Indigenous People inhabited it, to when it was a farm, to post-World War II development, and to today.
The summary of community engagement activities since 2023 is:
• November 2023 to January 2024: Online community survey.
o Number of respondents: 42.
• January 2025: Staff presentation at Twinbrook Community Association meeting.
• February 2025: In-person community engagement session with LaToya Peoples.
o Number of attendees: 6 (Twinbrook residents: 3; Cultural Arts Commissioners: 2; Rockville residents outside of Twinbrook: 1).
• February 2025 to March 2025: Online community survey.
o Number of respondents: 38.
Boards and Commissions Review
The Cultural Arts Commission has received regular updates on the project’s progress. Because the community engagement and additional design was requested by the Mayor and Council and final approval rests with the Mayor and Council, Commission review of the design is not needed.
Fiscal Impact
The budget for the project was $12,500.
Next Steps
Following the Mayor and Council approval of the mural design, the artist will proceed with installation of the mural.