Installation of a bold new street mural at the State and Carrillo intersection will begin the week of April 13, bringing color, cultural storytelling, and safety-focused design to the heart of downtown, the County of Santa Barbara Office of Arts & Culture announced.
Led by artists Eddy Jimenez and Irene Ramirez, the project draws on Zapotec weaving traditions to celebrate Indigenous cultural heritage. Developed through community engagement and supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Asphalt Art Initiative , the City of Santa Barbara, and the County Office of Arts & Culture, the artwork aims to enhance the pedestrian experience and help revitalize State and Carrillo and the surrounding State Street corridor.
City officials say the redesign will improve pedestrian safety while creating a vibrant new home for the Santa Barbara Farmers Market. As part of the initiative, the City will host community engagement opportunities at the center of the Farmers Market, inviting residents and visitors to help shape the project.
In June 2025, Santa Barbara was selected as one of 10 cities across Canada, Mexico, and the United States to receive a $100,000 grant and technical support from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Asphalt Art Initiative, which uses art to improve street safety, revitalize public spaces, and engage communities through creative roadway redesigns.
The project focuses on reimagining one of the city’s busiest intersections—home to the beloved weekly Farmers Market and adjacent to the State Street Promenade, often cited as the country’s longest pandemic-inspired “slow street.”
Bloomberg Philanthropies notes the redesigned intersection will prioritize enhanced pedestrian and cyclist safety while providing a visually vibrant space for community interaction.
The broader Asphalt Art Initiative reflects a growing movement to integrate art into public infrastructure as a low-cost, high-impact response to urban challenges, deploying visual interventions on roadways and vertical elements like utility boxes, traffic barriers, and underpasses.
Findings from the Asphalt Art Safety Study, released in March 2022 by Sam Schwartz Consulting, showed measurable gains in pedestrian safety on streets incorporating asphalt art, including reduced crash rates and increased driver awareness.
Local officials, artists, and urban planners intend for Santa Barbara’s project to exemplify how creative design can harmonize safety and aesthetics, building on the success of the State Street Promenade.
Santa Barbara joins nine other cities, including San Francisco and Portland, in this round of funding, underscoring the initiative’s expanding North American reach.
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- UCSB Students and Alumni Featured in Mural Exhibition
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Hard to believe that such work could be done for $100K. Is there a local cost as well?
What more can be done to further screw up State Street?
You could be there crying about it.
Hammonds, spend your time fighting fentanyl on our streets. That is something to actually worry about.
Hmmm, that’s because it can’t. Name me one thing that has ever come in on budget? Next, add in all the paid staff time that is going to be used to plan and maintain the project. 5 years out it’s 1MM. Guaranteed. Is this supposed to distract people from their phones as they’re crossing the street? Or like some tourist draw like the biggest ball of twine in Kansas?? Or, is it just that they have that group disorder that causes them to impulsively spend money they don’t have?
Well I should’ve read it before posting. I just went based on picture and thought it was permanent. So 100k for a sidewalk chalk? OMG what a waste of money. How bout planting that into County resources for people that are getting crushed right now. I know it’s a stupid grant for a stupid thing. Just plain stupid all around.
Where do you see anything about chalk or not permanent? As it says, this will be painted … watch the video.
Looked like chalk in his hand. Phuk the video. It’s a waste. You’ll only be able to see the design from a freakin’ plane. It’ll otherwise just be a bunch of colors under your feet. So dumb.
Well, that’s a comment that’s dumb all over. Do you just look at your feet, or something?
There’s a paint tray below his hand (which clearly is holding a paintbrush).
Keep digging and looking ridiculous … but why?
Frivolous waste of dollars and time in a place that is circling the drain. Awesome.
The President borrowing 50 billion a week and blowing hundreds of millions in dollars on golf is troublesome. And Kristi Noem’s unneeded 300 million in planes that she used to fly around with the man who she is having an affair (while her cross dressing husband was at home). All things we warned you about if Repuglicans took office.
And all this stupid dishonest trash complaining dollars and time–it’s not *their* dollars and time, it’s a grant. Really disappointing from pr…i, who used to come across as halfway intelligent.
This is a total waste. TOTAL. Complete and Total. I said calk because that thing in his hand looked like a stick of chalk. IDK what the stuff is. Grant or not, it’s money that can totally should be used for something of actual lasting value.
The ‘it’s a grant so it’s free money’ attitude is garbage. Money doesn’t grow on trees. Use it for something more worthwhile. Everyone with a half of a brain knows we have way bigger problems to solve than the decoration of our crosswalks.
Yeah, and getting rid of the current infestation of fascists is much higher on the list.,
Look at you crying about how other people spend their money when it has zero impact on you.
Republicans are now upset about pleasant crosswalks.
They’re only upset because it isn’t a stars, stripe, eagle & guns theme. They just don’t understand why any “real American” would go for something so “woke” as Native American geometric patterns. If our demented President had approved it, Republicans would be out with pom-poms.
Give us a break … you don’t use your own money for anything worthwhile and only complain about how teensy amounts of your tax money is used.
This is private money … they can use it as they see fit and complaining about it is fundamentally dishonest.