Mural Design Submission Prompts

The Merrill College murals celebrate the ideas, cultures, voices, and visions of the Merrill College community. In collaboration with African American Resource & Cultural Center, the Merrill Programs and Leadership Office seeks interested Merrill-affiliated students and their friends to submit mural designs. Your art submission can be original artwork or an idea based on a reproduction of a favorite piece of art. The final day to submit designs is Monday, April 10, 2023.

Artist prompt # 1
Your art submission should center and amplify themes of Black Power, Black Joy, and the resilience to Anti-Blackness that African, Black, and Caribbean (ABC) identified folks embody at UCSC. Ideally, this Mural will contain an educational message representing the previously listed themes and includes representations of Merrill's ethos of Exploring Cultural Identities & Raising Global Consciousness. We hope your submissions incorporate images and reflections central to Black diasporic cultural values. This Mural contest is an opportunity to uplift an ABC-identified student artist(s).

Artist prompt # 2
The Merrill Moat is a celebration of the ideas, cultures, voices, and visions of the Merrill community. Your art submission should represent Merrill's ethos of Exploring Cultural Identities & Raising Global Consciousness and mission.

The Merrill College mission statement:
Merrill College staff are dedicated to helping students engage responsibly with the world. As a community, we strive to embrace formative practices - to learn what we don't know and how to know it, and to take action on what we have learned - in order to create a more just and inclusive world. Merrill strives to help students understand and develop their positions. We intentionally make space for a diversity of perspectives and encourage community members to own their impact on others.

Please use our online form to submit your mural design. If you are experiencing difficulties submitting your design, please contact MPLO-group@ucsc.edu.

Submissions must be a PDF, JPG, JPEG, or PNG file.

Merrill Programs Staff will notify winners via E-mail. Winning Muralists are expected to be painting on Moat Day,  Sunday, April 23, 2023. Painting supplies, including an overhead projector, will be available for checkout starting Monday, April 17. Muralists who cannot complete their murals on Moat Day can check out paints during selected weekday hours until Sun., June 11. We reserve the right to paint over any murals that remain unfinished after June 17th.

Optional - In-person drop off:  Merrill College Office: Mon – Fri. 9 am-12pm and 1pm-4pm (Located next to Merrill Circle)  Attn. MPLO - Vero Shane-Vasquez | Mural Submission  Monday, April 10, 2023. 

• Your name(s), phone number(s), & email address.
• Which prompt you are responding to 
• A 500-1000 word description of the significance of your mural design
• Indicate your college affiliation:
• A list of paint colors you would need to create your mural
• Title of your Artwork
• Upload your art submission 

Policies and Submission Guidelines

As of March 15, 2008, UCSC’s Mural Policy forbids the recreation of copyrighted materials without written permission from the original author/artist.

Mural designs may not violate any section of the UCSC Rule Book, nor may they encourage other students to violate these rules.

No mural containing messages with malicious intent toward any individual or group will be permitted. No specific messages directed toward another person will be allowed.

It is important that any message you attempt to convey with your mural can be understood. A mural that, when separated from the content you supply with your submission, could be seen as being offensive to a person or group may not be selected. Run your design by a few people to make sure you are getting your point across.

Final decisions concerning which murals meet these guidelines rest with the College Programs Coordinator.

Group Mural Submissions: Group size can range from 2-6 individuals, half of your group members must be Merrill affiliates. For instance, if you have 6 people in your group at least 3 members must be Merrill affiliates.  

Questions? Contact  the Merrill Programs staff at  merrillprograms-group@ucsc.edu