The Mexican Museum Announces Plans For Mural Design at New Construction Site

San Francisco, Calif. -- The Mexican Museum, announces that the Museum, in conjunction with Millennium Partners, is working with Precita Eyes Muralists Assoc., Inc. to conduct a community-oriented design process that will result in a mural that will grace the barricade fence at the 706 Mission St. construction site.

This will be the new home of The Mexican Museum and Millennium Partners' Residential Tower in downtown San Francisco's Yerba Buena Gardens Arts District. The Mexican Museum is the premier West Coast museum of Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, Latin American and Latino art, culture and heritage.

"Our new museum facility is joining a renowned, richly diverse community of well-established museums, institutions, and businesses in the Yerba Buena Garden Arts District," said Alfredo Pedroza, member of The Mexican Museum's Board of Trustees and director of the mural project. "Launching a community-oriented design process for the mural planned for the construction barrier is a dynamic way of engaging local stakeholders, as well as our new neighbors in the future Millennium Tower."

"As a partner in this project, we want to create an interesting public environment, promote the new home of The Mexican Museum and build excitement as we get closer," said Sean Jeffries, Vice President of Millennium Partners. "Visitors and residents alike will have a visually compelling point of reference as the construction of the Museum's home takes shape."

Precita Eyes Muralists Assoc., Inc., led by founding director Susan Cervantes, will oversee the design process for the mural, whose purpose is to artistically announce The Mexican Museum's future home. According Cervantes, first steps in the process involve convening local community organizations and Museum stakeholders throughout the Mission District.

"Our design process will include input from such leading organizations including Galeria de La Raza, the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, and some of the schools in the Mission District and around the Yerba Buena Gardens area," said Cervantes. "We also look forward to partnering on the mural design with such important institutions including St. Patrick Church, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts."

"On behalf of The Mexican Museum and our esteemed associates at Millennium Partners, we are very excited about the prospect of using art to announce that the Museum is moving to San Francisco's Yerba Buena Gardens Arts District," said Andrew M. Kluger, Chair of The Mexican Museum Board of Trustees. "This new mural will not only tell Bay Area residents and visitors to the area that 'The Mexican Museum is Coming Soon,' but it will also enable us to build closer ties to local communities and institutions while enhancing the construction area."

Groundbreaking for the new home of The Mexican Museum is currently slated for early 2015, with the new facility expected to open in 2018. During construction The Mexican Museum will remain open at its current location at Fort Mason Center, Building D, Marina Boulevard and Buchanan Street, in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.mexicanmuseum.org or call (415) 202-9700.

About Precita Eyes Muralists Assoc., Inc.: Established in 1977 and founded by Susan and Luis Cervantes and other artists in San Francisco's Mission District, Precita Eyes Muralists Association and Center is a multipurpose, community-based arts organization that has played an integral role in the City's cultural heritage and arts education. Precita Eyes is one of only five community mural centers in the United States, the organization sponsors and implements ongoing mural projects throughout the Bay Area and internationally.

In addition, it has a direct impact on arts education in the San Francisco Mission District by offering four weekly art classes for children and youth (18 months through 19 years) and other classes for adults. These classes and community mural projects enable children and youth to develop their individuality and confidence through creative activities and to experience unifying, positive social interaction through collaboration. For more information, please visit www.precitaeyes.org.

About The Mexican Museum: Founded by San Francisco artist Peter Rodriguez in 1975 in the heart of the Mission District, The Mexican Museum is located at Fort Mason Center, is the realization of a vision to exhibit the aesthetic expression of the Mexican and Mexican American people. Today, the museum's vision has expanded to reflect the evolving scope of the Mexican, Chicano and Latino experience - including art, culture, history and heritage. In 2012, The Mexican Museum became an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the nation's largest museum network. The museum currently has a permanent collection of more than 15,500 objects reflecting Pre-Hispanic, Colonial, Popular, Modern and Contemporary Mexican, Mexican-American, Latin American, Latino, and Chicano art.

The Mexican Museum is open Wednesday - Sunday from noon to 4 p.m., located at Fort Mason Center, Building D, Marina Boulevard and Buchanan Street, in San Francisco. FREE Admission. The Museum offers a wide variety of programs, including Family Sundays, exhibitions, special events, lectures and public programming throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit www.mexicanmuseum.org or call (415) 202-9700.

The Museum is currently preparing for the completion of its permanent home, which will be built in downtown San Francisco's Yerba Buena Garden Arts District and is expected to open in 2018.

About Millennium Partners: Founded in 1991, Millennium Partners is an internationally recognized residential developer of high-quiality mixed-use properties with dramatic showcase properties in some of the nation's most dynamic urban locations, including San Francisco's South of Market district; New York City's Central Park South and Lincoln Square; Boston's Public Garden and Boston Common; Washington's West End and Georgetown neighborhoods; and Miami's Brickell Avenue.

Millennium Partners selects often overlooked, urban infill, transit-oriented sites and makes them extraordinary on a scale that impacts entire cities. In each case, the presence of a Millennium Partners' development has transformed the surrounding neighborhood into a true destination. By engaging in thoughtful and important public-private partnerships, carefully controlling building design and the development process, as well as retaining ownership and operating control of each development, Millennium Partners is able to maintain high standards from project to project.