Wayland HRDEI panel seeks $10,000 grant for mural project artist

WAYLAND -- March 17, 2026, Wayland HRDEI committee votes unanimously to apply for $10,000 Middlesex Savings grant for mural artist. Member Janot Mendler de Suarez told the panel the Wayland Mural Project, slated for the town pool's exterior wall, has an approximately $25,000 budget and recently received $5,000 from the Village Bank, covering the artist's roughly $5,000 deposit. Treasurer Denise Fortin moved to apply; member Kevin Goodwin amended the motion so the funds pay the artist rather than lighting or other costs. The artist, a Wayland High School graduate, will run a student workshop and design a "timeless" mural with no slogans, Mendler de Suarez said. The committee also appointed Sophie Chen as co-clerk replacing Asma Khan, and voted to co-sponsor a May 13 virtual lecture, "Forgotten Fighters: Chinese Soldiers in the American Civil War," by living history educator Anneliese Meck for AAPI Heritage Month.