A mural celebrating the cultures of Brunswick, Maine, and Trinidad, Cuba, will be unveiled next Sunday to honor the connection between the sister cities.
"This project was meant to educate the community about the Sister City program and about Trinidad," said Susan Weems, a member of the Brunswick-Trinidad Sister City Association (BTSCA).
Brunswick and Trinidad have been sister cities since 2001, but the process to establish the relationship began in 1998.
"Members of the Brunswick community wanted to improve communications between Maine and Cuba, which are intimately connected historically," said Weems.
A group of Maine citizens took a bike tour of Cuba in 1998 and encountered Trinidad. They came back to Brunswick advocating that Trinidad be chosen as Brunswick's sister city.
Trinidad is similar in size to Brunswick and is a World Heritage site where the arts are a major focus. Trinidad and Brunswick also share historical economic ties.
Beginning in the 18th century, Cuba supplied Maine with sugar, molasses, and rum, while Maine was Cuba's primary supplier of potatoes.
The trade continued throughout the 20th century. Despite the United States' rocky relations with Cuba, Maine politicians such as William Frye and his son Alexis Frye supported Cuba's war for independence and contributed to Cuba's educational system.
Since Brunswick became Trinidad's sister city, members of the BTSCA have led humanitarian trips to Cuba and brought with them medical items, art, and school supplies.
"When I went down two years ago, we brought dance-wear because their cultural arts center is thriving and is an important part of the community," said Weems.
The BTSCA's latest project is the mural, entitled "Dance of Two Cultures," which was designed and painted by local artist Christopher Cart. Tina Phillips, the president of BTSCA, Weems, and other members of the board spent three years raising money and support for the mural.
"We wanted to create an enormous outdoor mural that would show the cultures of Brunswick and Trinidad, and we wanted to get the whole community involved?that was really the basis of the whole project," Weems said.
The BTSCA approached multiple Brunswick organizations and citizens to garner support and funds for the project and received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from Brunswick and the surrounding communities.
Larry Scott, the owner of the Georgetown Pottery Building at 11 Pleasant St., provided one of the most essential needs of the project: A space to paint the enormous mural.
Weems said "11 Pleasant St. is the only place within 100 miles of us where there was a ballroom that we could use full time." The mural will also be displayed on the west side of 11 Pleasant St. when it is completed.
Other members of the Brunswick community helped with the beginning stages of the project, including six Bowdoin students who helped prime the mural for painting during Common Good Day.
"It wasn't until the real painting began that Christopher took over," said Weems.
"He's of course made it much more extraordinary than most murals because he's painted it like a painting, not a mural," she added.
The eight by 32 foot mural depicts several notable peace from both Maine and Cuba, including Joshua Chamberlain, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and the vice president of Trinidad's town government.
Cart painted himself in the mural hanging up artwork of Cuban students received by the BTSCA. Scott's dog also makes an appearance.
"We actually have a sign that will go up with the mural which will identify 20 people in it," said Weems.
The unveiling ceremony will take place next Sunday, May 10, at 11 Pleasant St. in Brunswick. The event begins at 1 p.m., and is open to the public. Primo Cubano, a Cuban band comprised of Brunswick and Portland musicians, some of whom are also in the mural, will provide music.