Like Public Art? Like Supporting Youth and the Arts?

Like the City’s commitment to the Arts?

 Pat Flanagan is working with the City of 29 Palms and the 29 Palms Historical Society on an exciting new project called The Oasis Storytelling Project, and you have the chance to get involved! 

The goal of this project is to offer residents, students and travelers a history lesson through art and interpretation that is immediate and visually compelling. The project includes sculptural groupings of Native peoples and Pioneer Women with interpretative signs on National Park Drive - a boulevard linking the City with the Oasis and the Park. The City has invested $2M in the median’s native landscaping, a directional monument sign, sculptures, and an accessible meandering bike trail.

Ready for the final phase of the project, Pat is applying to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a competitive $50,000 grant to complete the project. This federal grant requires a match of the same amount from the City – including individual community supporters. Toward the match we have a $12,500 grant from the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians. The rest of the support comes from the Public Arts Advisory Committee (PAAC) budget for the next 3 years. This is appropriate but cuts into the PAAC’s Youth and the Arts Granting Program.

So this is a call to action for YOU to get involved!

 You can support all of the above with a small donation (coins to dollars) and your name.

WHY donate: A donation of any amount (coins to dollars) will return funds to the Youth and the Arts Program and, very importantly, impress the NEA folks with public support for the Oasis Storytelling Project.

HOW: Leave an envelope with your name, town, state, and donation at City Hall, the Old Schoolhouse Museum, the Chamber of Commerce, or the 29 Palms Inn. If under 18, include your grade level.

Checks: make to City of Twentynine Palms. Tax deduction receipts (over $250) from City, AND, in remembrance, when the sculptures are installed, the donor names will be placed in an Indian clay pot, and buried for all time under one of the sculptures.

The Oasis Storytelling Project as described to the NEA in 1500 characters including spaces:

The City of 29 Palms in the Mojave Desert was incorporated in 1987. With a population of 26K, its growing tourism economy is based on its strategic location as gateway to Joshua Tree NP and the Mojave National Preserve. Branded Oasis of Murals, the city is known for its Art in Public Places including 2D and 3D installations.

Why was this place, located 90 dirt miles from San Bernardino and 100 miles from the Colorado River, the first settlement in this region? Because for thousands of years a unique mile-long geologic feature-the Oasis of Mara- offered residents and travelers life-saving water, food and shelter. The stories of our founding miners, cattleman, and homesteaders are chronicled in existing public art pieces, but two critical chapters are missing: the sacrifice by Native peoples and the contributions of women. The new Tortoise Rock Casino, north of the Oasis, reminds us that we live on Tribal land that was illegally seized. It is time to tell these stories.

This project, through art and interpretation, will offer residents, students and travelers a history lesson that is immediate and visually compelling. The project includes sculptural groupings of Native peoples and Pioneer Women with interpretative signs on National Park Drive -a boulevard linking the City with the Oasis and the Park. The City has invested $2M in the median’s native landscaping, a directional monument sign, sculptures, and an accessible meandering bike trail. We’re ready for the final phase.