Black Lives Matter Mural & Event

Co-Director

SC Equity Collab is a co-led initiative sparked by 2020’s energized racial justice movement and founded around the creation of Santa Cruz’s Black Lives Matter street mural—a project conceived by artist and activist Abi Mustapha.


The mural was painted in September 2020 A fresh coat of paint was applied in June 2021.

The BLM Mural organizers envisioned that each year there is an annual event to engage the community in the maintenance of the mural and affirmation of the community commitment to racial equality.  In their proposal, it was suggested that the Arts Commission assume the role of annually identifying a community organization to take a lead in organizing the event and that funding be allocated toward the cost of it.  In addition, it was suggested that the Arts Commission time the issuance of an annual report on the commitment to Equity, Inclusivity, and Environmental Justice to coincide with the event.

Equity, inclusivity and environmental justice consideration: 

The Santa Cruz Arts Commission has affirmed a commitment to Equity, Inclusivity, and Environmental Justice as a focus for City Arts projects and programs. By permitting the installation of the Black Lives Matter mural at City Hall, the Santa Cruz City Council has affirmed the commitment to racial equality and is promoting an opportunity for the community to collectively express the concept with an art installation. 

Over 500 volunteers joined together in downtown Santa Cruz to help paint a Black Lives Matter mural on Center Street, in front of City Hall.

Taylor Reinhold, one of the organizers of the event, said the effort started months ago in the wake of the death of George Floyd. When asked about working with the city of Santa Cruz, Reinhold said, “When we voiced what we wanted to do, we had a unanimous vote, and they said ‘Good luck, we’d love to participate.’ It was actually really smooth.

Creation of SC Equity Collab

A collaboration formed out of necessity during the BLM movement. Black Lives Matter mural Our mission is to bring awareness to the inequities in our community while bringing humanness to the process of becoming more equitable.

Founding members: Abi Mustapha, Taylor Reinhold, Sean McGowan, Shandara Gill, Thomas Peterson

We strive toward these goals:

  • Highlighting leaders who are doing the work in our community

  • Providing tools for anyone desiring to re-examine their own racial equity standards in practice and action

  • Creating a support system for change and change-makers

  • Illustrate what it looks like for organizations to go through racial equity training in a transparent, safe, and vulnerable way so that others will be inspired to initiate change within themselves and their businesses or organizations. 

While acknowledging the urgency of this need, we also remain aware that real change takes perseverance, humility, and time. We are committed to re-evaluating and shifting as much as needed to build the best practices and models for creating change in our community.