Media Advisory: Mural honoring Fruit Belt to be unveiled Thursday at Buffalo Public Schools renaming ceremony

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Dozens of Buffalo Public Schools students helped create a unique mural earlier this year.

Now, they will unveil it to the public.

The painting, which honors Buffalo’s historic Fruit Belt neighborhood, will be given its public debut Thursday during the renaming ceremony of Public School No. 37. The former Futures Academy will now be known as the Marva J. Daniel Futures Preparatory School in honor of its former principal.

Roughly 50 students, from fifth to eighth grades, worked last school year with Augustina Droze, a graduate student in UB’s Department of Art, to create the work of art. Droze has painted murals in Buffalo and other cities.

The mural depicts the challenges the Fruit Belt has faced to remain a vibrant neighborhood and emphasizes that the school can be a catalyst for the Fruit Belt’s resurgence.

What: The Marva J. Daniel Futures Preparatory School renaming ceremony, which includes the unveiling of a 9-foot-tall, 40-foot-long mural honoring the Fruit Belt.

When: 4-6 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 25. The mural unveiling is scheduled from 4:15-4:30 p.m.

Where: The lower level hall inside the school at 295 Carlton Ave.

Note: School administrators have secured permission from parents to allow the students to be photographed and filmed.

The mural project was spearheaded by UB’s Center for Urban Studies Community as Classroom program, which brings UB students to Marva J. Daniel Futures Preparatory School to teach urban planning and neighborhood development by emphasizing public art, neighborhood building, history, and community parks and gardens.