The Mural
The Jackson International Food and Art Festival has been a cherished annual event that unites our community and promotes cultural awareness across West Tennessee. For over a decade, JIFAF has celebrated the rich diversity of our region through food, art, music, and shared experiences.
To support the festival's year-round mission of fostering cultural understanding and cross-cultural engagement, we envisioned the creation of a community mural. This mural will serve as a permanent, visual representation of JIFAF's values — honoring the cultural heritage, traditions, and histories that define our diverse community.
The JIFAF mural was created by local artist, Rose Newhouse. Ms. Newhouse painted the Gil Scott-Herron mural across from the Carnegie Center for Arts and History on College Street, Sonny Boy Williamson I on the side wall of Franklin’s Little Bar and a Unity mural at Martin Headquarters Barber Shop on Royal Street in addition to numerous creative art activities.
“My inspiration for this mural comes from the incredible diversity and unity that I see each year at the Jackson International Food and Art Festival. I wanted to create a visual representation that honors the traditions, colors and stories of the cultures from around the world. This mural will be a tribute to the beauty of inclusion and will show how the power of art can bring our community together,” said Rose Newhouse, artist.
The festival mural was unveiled on October 17, 2025, made possible in part through the Community Impact Grant from Community Foundation of West TN.
“The mural is representative of the different cultures in our city and the people we see celebrated at the annual festival. It is our vision the art will immerse the community in the traditional music, food, art and the parade of traditional cultural attire and flags from around the world,” said Dr. Sandra Dee, JIFAF co-chair.
“The first festival was in downtown Jackson surrounded by historical buildings and vibrant Gingko trees. The JIFAF executive committee felt it was important to create the mural in downtown Jackson where the festival started in 2014. The owners of 301 E. Lafayette Street (Leigh Anne and Glenn Bentley) provided their building as a canvas for the mural.”
