After a year of workshops with neighborhood kids, families and nonprofits, Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center will unveil its first public mural on Friday, Aug. 7, at 2:45 p.m.

The artwork, inspired by the history and spirit of Evanston's Fifth Ward, was created by artists Alfonso "Piloto" Nieves Ruiz and Andrew Walker III in collaboration with children attending Fleetwood-Jourdain, participants in Family Focus's afterschool programs, and Oakton Elementary students enrolled in the African-Centered Curriculum. According to ARTSiE, the Evanston arts education nonprofit behind the project, the mural celebrates cultural diversity, intergenerational collaboration and environmental stewardship.

The organization ran community mural workshops throughout the past year and folded mural preparation into its enrichment classes at Fleetwood-Jourdain, drawing in local residents and families alongside the students.

Nieves Ruiz, a self-taught artist born in Querétaro, Mexico, is known for transforming clay and discarded materials into pieces that center overlooked communities. He has been featured in the Intuit Art Museum's "Catalyst: Immigration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago" exhibition.

The project also drew support from the city. The Evanston Arts Council awarded ARTSiE a 2026 Cultural Fund Grant to produce a documentary about the mural's collaborative creation process, part of $135,000 distributed to 30 local arts organizations this cycle.

Fleetwood-Jourdain has anchored the Fifth Ward since 1956, when it opened as the Foster Community Center. It was rededicated in 1986 to honor longtime director Homer D. Fleetwood and Edwin B. Jourdain Jr., who in 1932 became Evanston's first Black alderman. Jourdain served 17 years. He pushed to desegregate the city's theaters, public parks and sporting events.

The reveal is free and open to the public. It falls on the same afternoon as the grand opening of the new Foster Elementary School at 1600 Simpson St., making Friday a double celebration for the Fifth Ward neighborhood.

Attendees can meet the artists at the center following the 2:45 p.m. unveiling.