Punto Urban Art Museum Launches Roots | Raíces Call for Art to Celebrate Salem’s 400th Anniversary

August 7, 2025

Salem, MA,  August 7, 2025,  The Punto Urban Art Museum (PUAM), a program of North Shore Community Development Coalition, announces the launch of the Roots | Raíces 2025 Call for Art, inviting New England-based artists to create public art that celebrates heritage, migration, and community belonging as part of Salem’s 400th anniversary.

This year’s Call for Art will commission murals for Peabody Street in Salem’s historic El Punto neighborhood, a vibrant, primarily Latinx and immigrant community. The theme Roots | Raíces reflects on the layered

histories of place and people, honoring both the original inhabitants and generations who have made Salem home. It recognizes migration, resilience, and reinvention as central to our shared story and, like plants that thrive with care, celebrates how people and cultures take root to shape the city’s beauty and well-being.

Presented in partnership with Salem 400+, Salem Maritime National Historic Site, and the Peabody Essex Museum, the project unites arts, history, and community to honor Salem’s past while envisioning its future. Selected artists will receive a $1,000 stipend to create 8-by-8-foot mural works that will become part of PUAM’s semi-permanent outdoor collection.

“Just as a textile i

s woven from many threads, the cultural history of the City of Salem has been shaped across generations by many individuals and communities. I’m very excited about this opportunity to give artists a platform to share our stories, to seek out and bring together diverse threads and weave them into a vibrant colorful tapestry that engenders a sense of belonging and carries us forward another 400 years…” said Saniego Sanchez, Director of Punto Urban Art Museum at North Shore CDC.

The Call for Art is open to professional and emerging artists residing in New England. Murals will be installed in September 2025 and will join PUAM’s collection of more than 75 large-scale murals that attract visitors from around the world while building pride of place for residents.

Application Deadline: August 18, 2025, at 11:59 PM
Details & Apply: https://puntourbanartmuseum.org/2025callforart/

About the Punto Urban Art Museum
Founded in 2017, the Punto Urban Art Museum is a three-block public art museum located in Salem’s El Punto neighborhood. The museum uses large-scale art to break down invisible yet persistent socio-economic barriers between El Punto, a vibrant, primarily Latinx and immigrant community, and the rest of the city. Through cultural programming, artist opportunities, and community-led initiatives, PUAM fosters pride of place, cross-cultural understanding, and social change.