By Sara Beth Williams–
The Citrus Heights City Council last week officially approved the winning design for a mural that will celebrate both Citrus Heights’ history and culture and America’s 250th anniversary.
The winning mural was chosen with 276 votes, the nonprofit Citrus Heights Arts announced on social media. Over 800 community members voted in the contest, which was announced on Citrus Heights Arts’ social media channels shortly after the City Council approved the proposal for a mural in May.
In an announcement of the winning design, the nonprofit expressed appreciation for the engagement and enthusiasm and thanked Citrus Heights residents for participating in the voting process, helping to shape the future public art installation.
During the voting process, some community members expressed concern that the four mural design concepts were perceived to have been generated by artificial intelligence. Citrus Heights Arts acknowledged the concerns on social media and said moving forward, it will review and refine how it uses artificial intelligence.
The city said while AI was used to generate the mural design concepts for the process of offering choices for community voting purposes, the final mural will be designed and completed by muralists and will not be created with AI.
Citrus Heights Arts founder Gigi Rayford said during the June 10 City Council meeting that final concepts are now being created by hand by artists and will be submitted to the council for final approval before the mural is installed.
Citrus Heights Arts also noted that the chosen artist will use the winning design as a starting point, and artists will incorporate more specific localized scenery as well as their own artistic style and interpretation of the winning concept.
“This will ensure the final mural is both inspired by the chosen design and uniquely brought to life by the artist,” Citrus Heights Arts said.
The mural will be installed on an exterior wall of Citrus Heights City Hall. The finished mural is expected to be unveiled to the community sometime near the end of June prior to the Stars and Stripes patriotic celebration, scheduled for June 27.
