Written by Krystal Romero
12/10/2021
Our space began as a white classroom located at the back of the building that had once been the school that gave origin to the community project that became a non-profit organization. Because it moved to another location this building is now property of the Municipality of Añasco. It’s past mayor Jorge Estéves and his Administration are responsible for giving us these facilities back in 2018, after examining our proposal, with the intention of continuing to develop ourselves, painting murals and helping the West communities of Puerto Rico. The opening of the new workshop, side-by-side the Municipal Art Academy of Añasco, the members of Ciudad Museo exhibited to their guests, gallery type, a few of their individual art pieces hanged on the walls of the old classroom as well as some of the murals’ sketched drafts done collectively by the group until that moment,
Initially we barely had any materials to store away in this new space, just a couple of buckets of paint and a few brushes. Until we started acquiring more materials through fundraisers, sales, donations we received from people and commercial sponsorships. The supporters of our artistic initiative have helped us acquire office furniture, a bunch of chairs, more paint, a scaffold/platform, more than one ladder, a wheelbarrow, etc. Which naturally reduced the space and is why we decided to ask the Municipality for the hallway next to the room, because they connected and we saw the possibility of making the hallway our formal storage but also the main entrance/exit to the art workshop of Ciudad Museo. After moving all the materials we were able to remodel the rest of the interior between 2020-2021. Because we wanted it to become a welcoming place where we could offer more art workshops (mainly to children, but families too) and also where we could receive guests for meetings. Turning the space from claustrophobic to attractively colorful, offering its own lounge, cafeteria, office and workshop area.
Besides it’s remodeled interior, the back façade also has its own design, a grand mural made by us titled Manos a la obra (Let’s Get To Work) done a year before in 2019. The same came from the idea of wanting to create a composition that included images of different murals, forming a sort of collage. Also making reference to the mural found on the other side of the building, painted by the recognized Puerto Rican muralist David Zayas in 2015. as part of an initiative from the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña on the old Sergio Ramírez de Arellano-Hostos; because this event was a fountain of inspiration. Since 2018, this space, today the place we call our workshop, is where we give birth to most of our ideas and it’s where we brainstorm and plan all of our moves. Using muralism as a remedy, always trying to imagine a better future.
Everything started in 2018 when we and Team Playa met Luna Vélez as well as the organizations of Project Refuge PR, NYDIS and Power Malu. Who traveled to Puerto Rico a year after the disasters caused by Hurricane María in 2017, to aid the community of Bario Playa in Añasco. Ciudad Museo attended this event because they were invited to paint hand-in-hand with the community, this art piece which they ended up calling 
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