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Grand Rapids advances Third Ward legacy tour and commissions mural pilot with $50,000 tranche
Summary
City staff and partners briefed the Economic Development Project Team on the Third Ward legacy tour — a crowdsourced, app-based cultural-tour project — and outlined a $50,000 mural pilot to commission public art and support neighborhood storytelling.
City staff and community partners updated the Economic Development Project Team on the Third Ward legacy tour — a crowdsourced cultural-tour project combining an app, oral histories and public art — and outlined a small mural initiative supported with a $50,000 allocation.
Asante Kane, who said he has served as the executive lead for the 2025 Third Ward equity project, described the cultural tour’s goals: to surface otherwise little-known stories from the Third Ward, provide economic opportunity for local businesses and attract visitors. Partners include the Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives (GRAMA) and Muse, which is building an app to host photos, videos and narrative content for mapped tour sites.
Dani Linham of the Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives said GRAMA is crowdsourcing stories from neighborhood associations, churches and businesses and is conducting archival research to verify contributions before they are added to the app. Muse representatives demonstrated an in-progress app prototype that will let users tap map points to view photos, video and narration tied to sites or people.
Staff said they expect a soft launch with a limited set of sites “around the new year,” followed by broader rollout and a docent strategy supported by GRAMA under the terms of the city contract. The city said communications and partner outreach will be coordinated before the public launch.
On public art, staff described a Third Ward mural initiative with an initial $50,000 in funding; staff said roughly $15,000 would cover the mural production for the pilot project, with the remaining funds used for a project manager, outreach and possibly additional mural sites. The city intends to issue an RFP for a project manager who would develop an artist RFP, coordinate community engagement sessions with GRAMA, solicit building owners to host murals and oversee design and installation.
Commissioners and staff discussed aligning the mural and cultural-tour work with the proposed strategic investment lead and corridor managers so that placemaking, arts and larger development projects reinforce each other. Staff said the Southtown CIA has been briefed and will be part of the corridor conversation; the presenter said she will update the CIA at its next meeting.
Staff emphasized that the app content is being curated and verified and that GRAMA’s crowdsourcing will be front and center in collecting stories and nominations. No formal action was taken; staff will proceed with RFP development for the project manager and coordinate a soft launch timeline and communications plan.
