Action Council for 29 Palms Inc (Action 29) is a non-profit 501c[3]. Action 29 was established in 1994 to optimize the social, cultural, and economic well being of the community through arts and tourism, and to maintain and enhance our uniquely fragile environment and heritage. The intent of our mission is to revive the pioneer spirit of “can do” and restore community pride. Recreating the history of our community by painting quality murals on our walls is one way to realize our mission. These murals celebrate our sense of community while elevating our aesthetic perceptions. The murals, costing between $5,000 and $30,000 each, have been mostly funded through the sales of limited edition prints; however, we received one $15,000 grant from Edison International in 1999 for the development of a mural.

Action 29 has completed 21 murals that reflect the community’s rich history and its love for nature. To date, all of our murals have been completed or supervised by internationally renowned muralists; even our community outreach program “mural in a day” was painted under the guidance of a prominent muralist.

The community of Twentynine Palms has adopted the name, Oasis of Murals, which has come to symbolize the success of this renaissance program. Our community has experienced an expanded awareness of the cultural arts as well as economic growth because of increased tourism. The overall success of this program has spurred a revitalization of the downtown area and an increased interest in Joshua Tree National Park, which is adjacent to the City of Twentynine Palms. We have received media coverage from L.A. to New York to London. Our community murals were featured in many publications including the New York Times, the Miami Herald, and the Denver Post. Action 29 has received awards from the City of Twentynine Palms, San Bernardino County, and the State of California for this volunteer grass roots project. Huell Howser’s California Gold and Peter Jennings’ World Wide News have highlighted our local murals as well. Moreover, because of our commitment to excellence, Action 29 was awarded the 2000 Global Mural Conference; the first ever held in the United States. One hundred people from 4 countries and 14 states participated in this event and put Twentynine Palms on the global art map. Furthermore, Action 29 provides mural tours to schoolchildren in the Morongo Basin and several private tour companies have brought many visitors to see the murals.

Recently, Action 29 had to remove and repaint a ten-year-old mural. This mural was called “Our Neighbors in Nature.” Because of our harsh desert weather conditions, it had become faded and too worn to repair. Once the decision to create another mural in its place had been made, Action 29 sought out the original artist to paint another mural to be called “Our Neighbors in Nature II.” The community attended the April 22, 2006 mural dedication with a resurgence of the pride that had been demonstrated at each of the earlier mural unveilings. Action 29 has learned many lessons these past several years, one of which is the need to conserve the murals we have. During the past year, Action 29 made it priority number one to review the condition of each mural. It had been determined that every mural needed to be cleaned and coated with a special solution, where others needed repairs. Action 29 recently completed the fundraising, all through grant providers, for this essential project. Action 29 raised $15,000 from three grant providers to successfully complete the restoration and preservation of 21 community murals in Twentynine Palms.

Action 29’s next project will be completed in October 2007, a week before the Battle of the Bell football game between Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms high schools. This project will be another “mural in a day” project, and is co-sponsored by Twentynine Palms Kiwanis. Master muralist Art Mortimer will work with 29 administratively selected Twentynine Palms high school students. The game was established in 1968 by the Kiwanis organization to symbolize friendly sportsmanship’s between these two high schools.

We are proud that, we, Action 29, have created a vehicle for change through our community mural projects. These murals add to the social, cultural, and economic well being of the community while highlighting and celebrating our fragile environment and rich heritage.