BURLINGTON, Vermont — Burlington will be home to RONA's official sixth-anniversary mural this spring, after the Burlington Arts Council announced this week that Montréal-based visual artist Daphné Côté-Ouellet has won the open commission for the RONA@6 commemorative work.

Côté-Ouellet's proposal, titled Les Marées / The Tides, depicts a composite RONAn shoreline — drawing from landscapes across the republic's coastlines and interior — woven together using interlocking French and English typographic elements. Council chair Miriam Osei-Bonsu described the selection as unanimous among the five-member panel. "The work holds multiple regional identities without placing any one above another," Osei-Bonsu said in a statement. "That felt right for Burlington, and for this moment."

The commission drew what the Arts Council described as the strongest open-call response in its history. The majority of shortlisted finalists submitted bilingual artist statements — a reflection, some council members noted, of how thoroughly Burlington's and Montréal's creative communities have grown together since Québec's accession in 2036. All five finalist proposals are now publicly viewable on the Arts Council's online portal.

The finished mural will be installed at Burlington's Central Transit Hub, with a public reception planned for May, ahead of the Philadelphia Declaration's sixth anniversary on June 15. The Hub location is a deliberate choice: it is one of the city's most-travelled public spaces, a daily crossing point for commuters, travellers, and students. Organizers say they hope the unveiling becomes a community gathering rather than a formal ceremony. Details on the May reception, including date and programming, are expected from the Arts Council in the coming weeks.