If all goes according to plan, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Park Rec Center should have a new mosaic mural to grace its southern wall by next spring.

This Friday, the Minneapolis City Council is slated to vote on whether to give $10,000 to East Harriet's Southwest Senior Center to create the artwork this fall and winter. Last week, a City Council committee recommended that the center receive the grant.

This will be the center's third mosaic project under director Mary Ann Schoenberger. Each mosaic site has been chosen to help reduce graffiti.

So what is a senior center doing getting involved in graffiti prevention and public art? The answer is pretty simple, said Schoenberger.

"Not many younger folks know any of our seniors, and not many of our seniors know anyone outside their cocoons, either," she told Patch. "These projects are a great way to bring people together."

And plus, making a mosaic with help from hundreds of your neighbors can be a whole lot of fun, as Schoenberger described in a blog post on Patch, and as Patch freelancer Todd Svanoe reported as the Center's last project neared completion.

Schoenberger said the Kingfield mosaic will be based around the rich quilting traditions of Minneapolis' many ethnic groups—African-American, Hmong, European, Native American, and many more.

The Center is partnering with the Kingfield Neighborhood Association for the project. The KFNA is also chasing a similarly-sized grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. If they get it, the additional $10,000 will let the project double in size to 12 four foot by four foot panels.