Eight men gather around a table with an open Bible in José Clemente Orozco’s Table of Universal Brotherhood, one of six projects supported by the Abbey Mural Prize 2026. Image: Abbey Mural Prize
Six artists will share $125,000 through the 2026 Abbey Mural Prize, funding public art projects that bring creativity and connection to community spaces.
ARTCENTRON ART NEWS DESK
The National Academy of Design has selected six public mural projects as the Abbey Mural Prize 2026 recipients, awarding a combined $125,000 to support restoration, conservation, and new public art across the United States.
The winning projects are located in California, Delaware, Michigan, New York, and Colorado. Individual grants range from $10,000 to $30,000.
Selected through a national open call announced in May 2026, the projects were reviewed by a five-member jury of National Academicians: Paul Broches, Everardo Jefferson, Ken Smith, Kyle Staver, and Don Voisine.
The Abbey Mural Prize 2026 winners represent a broad view of what public murals can do. Some projects focus on protecting historic works by influential artists. Others center Indigenous culture, environmental sustainability, community participation, and the preservation of neighborhood history.
Abbey Mural Prize 2026 Winners Span Five States
The six winning projects are:
- Grand Performance Mural Restoration — Oakland, California
- Restoration of Haitian Mural by Aaron Douglas—Wilmington, Delaware
- Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Gindaaso-gamig (Library) Binoojiinhik (Children) Mural — Mount Pleasant, Michigan
- The New School Orozco Mural Cycle Long-Term Preservation and Conservation Project — New York, New York
- Transcend — Denver, Colorado
- Revival of Tomie Arai’s Wall of Respect for the Working People of Chinatown — New York, New York
New York has two recipients, while the other four projects are spread across California, Delaware, Michigan, and Colorado.
The geographical range is matched by the variety of artistic approaches. The projects include painted murals, conservation work, and a large-scale mosaic made partly from reclaimed materials.
Oakland’s Grand Performance Mural Faces a New Restoration
In Oakland, funding will support the restoration of the Grand Performance Mural, a 140-foot artwork painted by Daniel Galvez and Keith Sklar in 1984.
The mural has been part of Oakland’s daily visual landscape for more than four decades and has been designated an Oakland City Landmark.
Its location near Lake Merritt places it close to the historic Grand Lake Theater, Oakland’s LGBTQ Cultural District, and the Saturday Farmers Market.
The artwork celebrates Oakland through portraits of local cultural figures. Those depicted include conductor Calvin Simmons, composer Mary Watkins, musician John Santos, poet Judy Grahn, and the dance troupe Fua Dia Kongo.
The restoration team plans to work with a new generation of muralists to restore the mural’s color. The project also aims to strengthen the site as a gathering place for the communities that encounter it.
Aaron Douglas Mural Restoration Will Preserve Black Cultural History
A second restoration project in Wilmington, Delaware, focuses on a Haitian mural by Aaron Douglas, a major artist associated with the Harlem Renaissance.
Douglas created the mural for the home of Walter and Grace Goens, who commissioned the work. The artist maintained it for many years before the University of Delaware Art Conservation Department restored it in 2011.
The mural was subsequently damaged by smoke following a fire at the home in 2024.
The new restoration is connected to plans to open the building as a nonprofit art gallery. Restoring the work would preserve an important part of Eastside Wilmington’s Black cultural history while helping prepare the property for public use.
The project illustrates one of the central challenges of historic mural preservation: an artwork can become culturally important while remaining vulnerable to damage and deterioration.
Orozco’s New School Murals Receive Long-Term Conservation Support
New York’s second project addresses the long-term preservation of José Clemente Orozco’s mural cycle at The New School.
Created in 1930–31, the murals are a key part of The New School’s identity. Their themes include world revolutions, social justice, human rights, inclusivity, internationalism, and indigeneity.
The Table of Universal Brotherhood panel explores the relationship between science, labor, and art. The larger mural cycle provides opportunities for teaching, scholarship, and public engagement.
The conservation project will support the long-term care of the murals. It also seeks to make the mural room accessible to The New School community and the wider public after renovation and complete restoration of the work.
For historic public art, conservation is not simply about preserving an image. It can also determine whether future audiences can continue to encounter the work in the space where it exists.
Michigan Project Brings Anishinaabe Culture Into a Children’s Library
The Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Gindaaso-gamig, or library, in Mount Pleasant will use its award for a new mural in the Binoojiinhik, or children’s, area.
The library is open to everyone and emphasizes community service, culture, and language. The mural will celebrate Anishinaabe culture while encouraging creativity among younger visitors.
Its placement within the children’s area gives the project an educational role alongside its artistic purpose.
The work will introduce public art into a space where children and families already gather, creating an opportunity to connect visual culture with community identity and cultural knowledge.
Denver’s Transcend Turns Reclaimed Materials Into Public Art
In Denver, Transcend offers a contemporary interpretation of the mural format.
The permanent mosaic will measure 100 feet by 13 feet. Internationally acclaimed Venezuelan artist Oscar Olivares will create this project in partnership with Elevate for Change and the Auraria Campus.
The artwork will incorporate thousands of reclaimed plastic bottle caps collected by students, residents, businesses, and community partners.
Community involvement is integral to the project. Participants will take part in collection drives, educational workshops, and hands-on installation.
The concept behind Transcend centers on transforming limitations into opportunities. Its use of reclaimed materials adds an environmental dimension to the project, linking public art with sustainability and collective action.
Tomie Arai’s Chinatown Mural Returns to Public View
The sixth project will revive Tomie Arai’s 1977 mural Wall of Respect for the Working People of Chinatown in New York.
The W.O.W. Project and Chung Pak are bringing together Chinatown youth and senior residents as part of the effort.
The mural’s revival will focus on the labor and migration histories of Chinatown’s immigrant working class. Its location also places the project in direct dialogue with the ongoing construction of the Chinatown megajail.
The initiative treats the historic mural as both an artwork and a record of community experience.
By involving multiple generations, the project also creates a way for younger residents to engage with histories that might otherwise become less visible as the neighborhood changes.
What the Abbey Mural Prize Says About Public Art
The Abbey Mural Prize 2026 recipients demonstrate that mural funding extends beyond commissioning new artwork.
A significant portion of this year’s support goes toward conservation and restoration. That includes the Grand Performance Mural, the Aaron Douglas mural, and Orozco’s work at The New School.
At the same time, new projects in Michigan and Denver demonstrate how contemporary public art can address cultural identity, education, sustainability, and community participation.
The Chinatown project sits between those approaches. It revives an existing artwork while using it to engage with present-day questions about neighborhood history and development.
Together, the projects show how murals can function as cultural landmarks. Additionally, they highlight how murals can serve as educational resources and community records as well as works of art.
The History Behind the Abbey Mural Prize
The Abbey Mural Prize was established in 1932 through an endowed bequest honoring illustrator and muralist Edwin Austin Abbey.
<p>Since 1940, the National Academy of Design has awarded funds to hundreds of individuals and organizations working to create or restore public murals in the United States.
The program’s idea from inception was that murals can contribute to social activism, neighborhood revitalization, and community engagement.
The 2026 awards continue that longstanding mission. It reflects current concerns around cultural preservation, public access, environmental responsibility, and community participation.
What Happens Next for the 2026 Winners?
The six recipients will use their grants to advance their individual mural projects.
The announcement does not provide confirmed completion dates for the projects or identify the precise grant amount awarded to each recipient. Those details are not in the information available for this article.
The next stage will therefore look different for each project. Some recipients will concentrate on conservation and restoration, while others will move forward with new construction, community workshops, or collaborative installation.
For audiences, the significance of the Abbey Mural Prize 2026 may ultimately be measured not only by the artworks produced or restored but also by whether those works remain accessible and meaningful to the communities around them.
Public murals occupy a distinctive place in American art. They are created for shared spaces and exposed to the realities of those spaces. Preserving them requires money, expertise, and community commitment.
This year’s awards put all three concerns at the center of six very different projects.