Dear Community,

Hello again! We’re excited to share some updates since our last letter in May. Over the past few months, our team has been focused on the art side of the Art on Wheels project, while our bicycle racks are in the final stages of fabrication with HydroBlade.

This summer, we received valuable help from the Acadiana Center for the Arts (ACA) in developing the Call for Artists guidelines and form, which we published soon after. We’re grateful to the ACA staff for their assistance and for organizing a table for us at ArtWalk on August 9th to promote the Call for Artists. Beyond ArtWalk, we’ve distributed flyers across the community—posting them in coffee shops, art studios, bicycle shops, downtown businesses, Super One Foods, and more. A heartfelt thank-you to all the supportive community members and businesses who helped us spread the word!

The Call for Artists opened on August 1 and will remain open until September 15. Between October 1–22, the two selected artists will paint the bicycle racks. In November—exactly one year after Art on Wheels received funding from the 24-Hour Citizen Project—we’ll install the finished racks and celebrate with a ribbon cutting and a group bicycle ride.

Our next steps include building a panel of judges to review the designs. We will finalize our list of approved weather-resistant paints suitable for painting on metal and select a primer and sealer that will be provided to the artists. We are also in the beginning stages of planning the ribbon-cutting event. We have finalized installation details with the 811 OneCalls and plan to install the painted racks on a Saturday in November with our installers. We are planning to finalize the ribbon-cutting details, group ride route, and the date and time of the installation in September. In the meantime, we can’t wait to see the designs submitted!

If you are an artist, we invite you to submit a design with the Call for Artists Form. Artists of any age and skill level are encouraged to apply. If you’re interested in a Bike Rack Art Mural for your business, we invite you to fill out the Interest Form. Stay tuned to our social media pages on Facebook and Instagram for more project updates as we try to create a more colorful, bike-friendly community here in Lafayette!

Sincerely,
Blair Begnaud, Gabe Griffard, and Matthew Dufrene
Team Art on Wheels
artonwheelslafayette@gmail.com

Dear Community,

Thank you for celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month with our (E)motion picture event. We were able to connect with nearly 40 Acadiana residents and use film as a catalyst for conversation.

Families attending were treated to a red carpet experience with an abundance of Hollywood glamour. We rolled out the red carpet, popped the popcorn and settled in for an enjoyable viewing of the 90’s classic Homeward Bound. Following the movie, 5 qualified mental health professionals dedicated and donated time to leading family conversations about emotions experienced during the film and modeled how to process these feelings through conversation. These professionals donated nearly $600 worth of services through their time facilitating family discussions at the event.

Families completing the post event survey unanimously expressed that they would participate in another (E)motion picture event were one offered. Respondents noted how impressed they were with how the event sparked conversation for their families.

We are so grateful to 24 Hour Citizen Project for their generous funding of the project and to Children’s Museum of Acadiana for serving as our host site for the event. Thank you to all who attended, volunteered, and cheered us on along the way. We have loved serving Acadiana in this way and can’t wait to see you all again at the movies.

Dear Community,

It took three months from the time we received our grant funding to shop for all the items needed to stock our community pantries. By shopping in-store at Dollar Tree, Walmart, and Sam’s Club, we were able to save a great deal on shipping fees and stretch our budget further. With great care and intention, we purchased essential cleaning and hygiene supplies to support families in need.

We successfully stocked closets at two separate locations and maintain an overflow pantry at home to ensure we can restock each site each month. The pantries are filled with everyday essentials including laundry detergent, dish liquid, body soap, hand soap, all-purpose cleaner, bleach, toothpaste, dryer sheets, lotion, feminine hygiene products, toilet paper, and more. After months of preparation, we officially completed the setup and began servicing both sites on May 1st, 2025, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony held on April 29th. Since opening, we have proudly served over 40 families.

We are deeply grateful for the generous contributions from our backers, the support from our community, and the partnership with the amazing staff at 24hrcp, all of whom helped make this dream a reality. We are currently accepting both tangible and monetary donations from the public and are actively seeking additional grant funding to keep these pantries fully stocked and eventually expand to other areas of the city.

We are also working closely with LHA administration and faculty to ensure these services are used appropriately and benefit those truly in need.

With best regards,
Team Soap and Hope

We hope this message finds you well! We are excited to share an Art on Wheels progress update with you! Since we last saw many of you, our passion for creating a safe and vibrant city for cyclists and pedestrians has only grown. One of our biggest updates—and challenges—has been a change in scope: we are now installing two bicycle racks instead of three. Rising fabrication costs and our decision to switch from a surface mount to a more durable in-ground mount significantly impacted the project budget. During a site visit with installers, we observed that a portion of the surface-mounted racks downtown have not held up over time, and so, for two months, we thoroughly explored alternative designs and installation methods before ultimately choosing the strongest and longest-lasting installation option. While this meant scaling back, we firmly believe that quality over quantity will better serve the community in the long run.

As for our progress, we are happy to report that final locations have been selected downtown and at Super One Foods. We conducted ADA checks and met on site with the installer to flush out final installation details. We have also partnered with Bike Lafayette to be our Fiscal Sponsor as we receive and spend funds related to the Art on Wheels initiative. To continue to promote our project, we have created a logo, Facebook and Instagram pages(@Artonwheels_Lafayette), and ways to support and participate. We have started an interest form(https://forms.gle/k48Fgq52utyTk12J7) for businesses and organizations who are interested in getting a bike rack art mural and started a GoFundMe to raise funds for future racks(https://gofund.me/595db645). We’re excited to announce that Fightingville Fresh, a neighborhood farmer’s market located in an area of town with high cyclist ridership, will receive the first fully crowdfunded bike rack, thanks to generous community support via the GoFundMe. We’re also exploring grants and community funding options so that more businesses and organizations—especially those needing financial assistance—can get their own bike rack art mural in coming years.

Our long-term goal is to install at least 10 Bicycle Rack Art Murals in Lafayette over the next 5 years, averaging about two per year. We hope the first two installations in 2025 will serve as a proof of concept, inspiring more interest and enthusiasm from the community and businesses alike. We hope to make a lot of progress this summer by finalizing the order and starting fabrication with HydroBlade for the first two bicycle racks. By the end of the summer, we would like to have the promotion of the Art Competition started with a Call for Artists sent out to the community. When the competition closes, two winners will be selected in the Fall and then the artists will be given a few weeks to paint the bicycle racks before they are installed at the selected downtown location and at Super One before the end of the year. We will be hosting a group ride and ribbon cutting when the Bicycle Rack Art Murals are installed at the end of 2025.

Our long-term goal is to install at least 10 Bicycle Rack Art Murals in Lafayette over the next 5 years, averaging about two per year. We hope the first two installations in 2025 will serve as a proof of concept, inspiring more interest and enthusiasm from the community and businesses alike. Additional long term goals include a Fun Ride(a fundraiser bike ride), applying for grants, continued promotion like going door to door to businesses who would benefit from installing a bike rack, expanding our team, creating a website, getting on local news stations to talk about Art on Wheels, and continuing to use social media to keep the energy and excitement up.

One of our favorite parts of this project is that all funds stay local—supporting Lafayette’s artists, fabricators, and installers while the community benefits from more art and bicycle parking across town. If you’re interested in a Bike Rack Art Mural, we invite you to fill out the Interest Form. Together, we can make Lafayette a more beautiful, vibrant, and bike-friendly community. Thank you for your continued support of the Art on Wheels initiative!

Sincerely,
Blair Begnaud, Gabe Griffard, and Matthew Dufrene
Team Art on Wheels