On Thursday, Joplin’s Arts and Entertainment non-profit Connect 2 Culture, in collaboration with the Langston Hughes cultural society, unveiled a new mural that will be painted in downtown Joplin. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

Nearly two months to the day that jazz legend and Joplin native Charles McPherson performed two concerts in mid-February Connect 2 Culture presented a $6,250 check yesterday to the Langston Hughes Cultural Society to create a brand new mural.

The painting unveiled Thursday includes McPherson, Langston Hughes, Cab Calloway, and Sammy Davis Jr., among others. Nanda Nunnelly with the Langston Hughes Cultural Society says the organization is still working on where the mural will be painted.

“We are right now going through the measurements of the building. I need to also say this, the artist that is going to paint this is Mr. Alexander Austin from Kansas City. If you’ve ever been down to the Power and Lights District and looked up and seen the mural around you. That was Mr. Alexander Austin.”

C2C’s donation is ticket sale proceeds from McPherson’s February 18th performance at Joplin’s Empire Market. Painting of the new mural is expected to start this fall or next spring.