February 18, 2026
The Integral Group, a Black-owned growth firm partnered with cultural company Next to assist artists.
The Integral Group, a Black-owned growth firm, partnered with cultural company Next to assist artists whereas revamping a historic Atlanta neighborhood with its BLVDNEXT arts initiative. Eventually, the present building website will be a multi-use complex on 22 acres, changing the previous Atlanta Medical Center. The years-long mission may undoubtedly be lower than aesthetically pleasing. However, the proprietor of NEXT, Faith Carmichael, and the Integral Group got here up with a plan to embellish building fencing with murals that talk to the neighborhood in transition.
The mission’s BLVDNEXT initiative seeks to create an area that honors and respects the current whereas concurrently getting ready for the long run. Carmichael and inaugural artist Tracy Murrell spoke with BLACK ENTERPRISE in regards to the initiative, discussing how visible artwork performs an element in growth and the way neighborhood historical past formed their strategy.
Why was it necessary for artwork to be concerned from the very starting of this growth?
Carmichael: They [are] a Black-owned growth firm, and over time of working collectively, they’ve proven a honest and genuine dedication to neighborhood, to the Atlanta arts ecosystem, and to rising artists of shade. This is an area with deep historical past and legacy, but additionally a historical past of disinvestment and actual challenges. The query grew to become how we may use the ability of artwork to indicate that this developer was strolling the discuss. They have been dedicated to constructing one thing that revered the legacy and the tales of the neighborhood, not simply specializing in the long run.
Tracy, because the inaugural artist, what did it really feel prefer to know you have been setting the tone for a mission that will final for years?
Faith and I’ve labored collectively for years. When she calls with an thought, they’re all the time considerate. She by no means simply asks if you wish to put work someplace. She asks if you wish to be in dialog.
What form of response have you ever seen from the neighborhood up to now?
When I lastly noticed how folks have been responding, buddies calling and saying they beloved what they have been seeing on Boulevard, it validated that the work was talking to my folks. That’s significant. It all the time makes me smile.
How do you consider working with artists as this initiative continues?
Carmichael: Atlanta has an abundance of inventive expertise. Our function is ensuring extra folks know that. Artists encourage the imaginative and prescient. We already know the expertise is there. The work is about partaking artists who’re already telling our tales fantastically and giving them area to be seen.
What sorts of tales can the viewers count on because the mission continues?
Carmichael: Anything and all the things we do will inform our tales—the tales of Black and brown communities and the narratives that come from them. Whether artists are Atlanta-based or not, the tales will all the time be rooted on this metropolis.
Construction in an older, established space will be jarring for long-term residents. The separation of what exists from what will likely be can create a disconnect. By centering artwork reasonably than the end line, the BLVDNEXT mission reimagines what growth can appear like when it listens first.
Richard White, senior vp of The Integral Group, advised BE the corporate is set to “honor the tradition of this neighborhood and make it seen, even when others select to not.”
White insists artwork is the right medium to provide that visibility because it “holds historical past, voice, and identification, and people issues matter.”
For Murrell and Carmichael, the work is each private and communal, a residing dialog unfolding alongside a well-recognized Atlanta hall. As the location continues to evolve, the artwork stands as an early promise that legacy, creativity, and neighborhood stay inseparable from what comes NEXT.
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