The movement begins

For more than a decade, murals have helped transform downtown Spokane’s walls, alleys and public spaces into places of creativity, connection and storytelling. What began as a collection of individual public-art projects has grown into a more intentional effort to use art as a tool for placemaking, cultural expression and downtown revitalization.

A significant part of that evolution has been the partnership between the Downtown Spokane Partnership (DSP), Spokane Arts, the City of Spokane, local artists and downtown property owners. Spokane Arts has helped expand opportunities for artists and administer public-art projects, while DSP has increasingly focused on finding opportunities to bring art into underutilized spaces and connecting those projects to the broader downtown experience. Spokane Arts describes its downtown mural work as an effort to “revitalize and reimagine” downtown gateways and activate areas with high pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

Some of the most visible work emerged from the Downtown Alleyways Project, launched in 2019 as a partnership among Spokane Arts, DSP, the City and property owners. The project brought murals, lighting and planters into an alley between Wall and Howard streets, demonstrating how relatively overlooked spaces could become colorful, pedestrian-friendly destinations. Erin Johnston and Tim Lacey III created the Fortune Catz mural in 2019, followed by Jiemei Lin’s mural in 2020.

The mural movement also became a way for Spokane artists and communities to tell stories about identity and belonging. In 2020, the building owners at 244 W. Main Avenue offered their wall for the Black Lives Matter mural, a collaborative work featuring 16 local Black, Indigenous and artists of color. The mural remains an important example of how downtown public art can respond to a particular moment while creating a lasting piece of the city’s visual and cultural landscape.

Over the years, the work has expanded beyond traditional murals. Spokane Arts has supported temporary and permanent public art, painted infrastructure and other creative interventions, while DSP has experimented with interactive art, streetscape improvements and activations designed to bring more people into downtown spaces. In 2024, for example, DSP issued a call for artists for interactive installations and photo backdrops in four downtown public plazas, emphasizing community engagement, tourism, cultural enrichment and the revitalization of underused spaces.

A New Chapter in 2026

That work is accelerating in 2026 with a renewed focus on downtown alleys and large-scale murals.

In May, DSP announced a new mural in the alley behind Madeleine’s Café at 415 W. Main Avenue. Led by Spokane artist Lisa Soranaka, the project celebrates Spokane’s Japanese American history and is intended to become the first in a series of murals highlighting the diverse cultural stories rooted in downtown. Spokane Arts is managing the project, with support from RenCorp Realty and ARPA recovery funding.

Just one month later, DSP and RenCorp Realty announced Vintage Alley, a multi-phase project envisioned as a new downtown destination featuring large-scale murals, decorative lighting and a future outdoor neon museum celebrating Spokane history. The centerpiece will be a 270-foot wall that offers an opportunity for one of the city’s largest murals.

And in August, artists Stacie Boyer and Jennifer Batey began work on a 5,300-square-foot mural in the alley between Post and Lincoln streets, just south of River Park Square. The mural celebrates the people, places, events and traditions that have shaped Spokane over the past century.

Together, these projects signal a shift toward thinking about murals not simply as artwork on a wall, but as infrastructure for downtown experience. Alleys become destinations. Blank walls become landmarks. Local artists become storytellers. And spaces that people once hurried past can become places worth exploring.

Today’s mural tour offers a look at that evolution: a decade of artists, partnerships and community investment that is helping make downtown Spokane more colorful, distinctive and connected to its own story.