Babylon Town launching initiative to help struggling artists, businesses

Babylon Town is launching a public arts initiative that aims to help artists and businesses affected by COVID-19, and hopefully lead to an “arts trail” through the town, officials said.

Babylon is using a $100,000 endowment from the Local Development Corp., an arm of the town Industrial Development Agency, to fund the effort. The initiative breaks down into four components: permanent art installations; pop-up exhibitions or performances near downtowns; socially distanced arts programming; and creating an arts trail with a map.

The town is teaming with the Babylon Citizens Council on the Arts Inc. for the initiative, which begins next month.

“Small businesses and the arts and entertainment sector have been hit especially hard during this time,” said Liz Mirarchi, executive director of the Citizens Council on the Arts. “We can give back to the community and help bring people back into the downtown while also creating a lasting impact.”

The effort is part of the town’s Babylon is Back business program in response to the pandemic. Matthew McDonough, director of Babylon is Back, compared the arts initiative to the Federal Art Project, a Great Depression-era relief program to employ artists to create murals and other artistic endeavors.

“What they understood then and what we get now is that art brings people together,” he said. The initiative will not only improve the town aesthetically, McDonough added, but also attract visitors and help businesses rebound.  

Mirarchi said the permanent art installations will include various artistic mediums and begin with a mural in Wyandanch. The pop-up performances will start with downtown drive-in concerts. The arts programming will begin with six biweekly landscape painting lessons around town. Everything will be either free or low-cost, she said.

Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer said he hopes the initiative can help give people a “mental break” from the stress of COVID-19.

“We’re experiencing a year like we’ve never seen before,” he said. “This has not only affected people physically, but mentally . . . everyone is on edge.”

The Wyandanch mural will be painted on the back of the HRHCare Martin Luther King Jr. health center. The 13-foot-by-90-foot mural is being designed and painted by a group of Wyandanch High School seniors from the Class of 2020.

Marie E. Saint-Cyr, who owns a studio in Wyandanch, has been meeting via Zoom with the students and guiding them in the design. The mural will have a mental health theme and display ways of self-care, such as listening to music or practicing meditation.

“With everything going on right now . . . this is a reminder to the community that taking care of your mental health can be as simple as taking the time to listen to some music and relax or dance around,” Saint-Syr said.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.