Finding Northwest Arkansas and a local artist recently teamed up to create a hand-illustrated map that tells the Northwest Arkansas narrative to corporate recruiters.
The map is commissioned by Finding Northwest Arkansas, a talent recruitment and retention initiative of the Northwest Arkansas Council. The council partnered with NWA artist Yang Luo-Branch to bring its vision to life.
“The Northwest Arkansas map was commissioned to showcase a few of the region’s top quality of life amenities and to give prospective candidates thinking about relocating to our area a visual way to explore the region,” Finding NWA Director Aron Shelton says. “The map was originally shared with local talent recruiters, but has since been made digitally available on findingnwa.com for the general public.” Click here to view the free version of the map.
Although the map is available to the public for free, proceeds from the purchase of map prints will benefit the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese for the remainder of this month. The funds will go to those in the Marshallese community directly impacted by COVID-19.
“The Marshallese community in Northwest Arkansas are among the most severely impacted by COVID-19,” says artist Yang Luo-Branch in a press release. “According to data, although the Marshallese represent around 2% of Northwest Arkansas population, they account for over 50% of the region’s deaths attributed to COVID-19, as of July 3.”
“If this piece of art can help them, then we have achieved a great goal,” Branch says.
Branch, a full-time IT employee for Tyson Foods, spent dozens of hours outside of her day job working on the Northwest Arkansas Council piece.
It took around 40 hours and a couple of months in total, Branch says.
According to Nate Green, the Northwest Arkansas Council communications director, the council chose Branch for the commission based on her past work.
“Yang Luo-Branch is a talented local illustrator, and we were inspired by the place-based illustrations she has created of various landmarks across the state,” Green says.
To purchase a print of the map to support the Marshallese community during July, click here.
READ MORE: Walmart Pulls Washington Redskins Merchandise as Team Reviews Name
Image courtesy of Yang Luo-Branch