View the mural and hear the sound installation by appointment. Please contact [email protected] or join us for an event in the space.
The West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts (WCCMA) commissioned works: Humanity, a new mural, and the accompanying sound installation “Idle Witnesses.”
Commissioned in 2023 and installed in 2025, the mural is a focal point in WCCMA’s downtown arts space, the Claremont Creative Center. A mixed media work of art featuring a trio of musicians in a dystopian landscape, the mix of brilliant and earthy colors are a lush mix of texture, details, and torment. All around the work are words and mantras, a nod to the aspirational practice of spiritual and self transformation through the practice of intention, thought, and alignment with the universe. The sound installation echos the themes of the conflicts of the world: ego, destruction, torment, beauty, hope, and peace. In the months before the completion of the mural the idea of the sound installation to accompany the artwork emerged. The artist’s brother, Luis Villalobos, was enthusiastic and quickly wrote the accompanying digital sound installation.
The project began in the midst of a series of projects Executive Director Melissa Richmond built that included the two brothers. The artists and their group at the time had an active creative partnership with Richmond and WCCMA.
“Our early conversations were about the layered history that shapes our lives—confluences of culture, conflict, and hope—and how art transforms communities,” said Melissa Richmond, WCCMA Executive Director of communication with artist Alberto Villalobos. “It’s incredibly striking to look at the torment of a system largely built on patriarchal power dynamics, the war, the darkness, the pain of a cycle that seems unending without truce. It seems to highlight the hypocrisy of too many facets of life: destruction without capacity to rebuild, toxicity that makes growth impossible, the power of what man makes to destroy things without showing up to heal them. The message that music holds humanity together deeply resonates with our vision at WCCMA, and it is in stark contrast to the reality around it in the art work. The words of poetry, love, and life appeal to a sense of hope that seems to hold out space for peace, compassion, and rebuilding, while the big picture shows exactly how staggering the odds against that can be. The resulting work is stunning and seems to show that if you can zoom out from the trauma of life that beauty isn’t entirely lost even when things turn to rubble.”
Community Support Needed
The Humanity project was made possible through a mix of grants and early donations, ongoing fundraising helps to fund the upkeep of the work and future works of art. The project was funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies. WCCMA is calling on the community to help bridge the gap to bring this vision to life and ensure its ongoing care.
“We’re asking for our community’s support. If 100 people give $100 each—or more—this incredible work can be completed, installed, and cared for. Gifts will also help initiate future artistic programming,” said Richmond.
To contribute and be part of this powerful statement for the arts, visit:https://www.wcc-ma.org/humanity/.
About the Claremont Creative Center
Opened in June 2024 after a decade-long visioning process led by Melissa Richmond and former Director of Planning and Development Nancy Merrill, the Claremont Creative Center (CCC) has quickly become a cultural cornerstone in the region. Housed in a beautifully restored Victorian-era bank in downtown Claremont, the CCC has hosted dozens of events and welcomed over 600 guests in its first year alone.
The space now serves as WCCMA’s main venue for concerts, community gatherings, artist residencies, rehearsals, and special projects. Together with the historic Union Episcopal Church and Broad Street Park, CCC forms one of three major stages WCCMA uses to bring world-class music and meaningful arts experiences to the Upper Valley.
