Mural Arts Program beautifies city

By Lisa Angelucci
Collegian Editor
February 21, 2007

Philadelphia is a city known for its murals. Even the British royalty spent time admiring these works of art when they were in town for a weekend recently. Although not everyone is a fan of the city’s murals (according to a recent Inquirer commentary article critical of the link, or lack thereof, between neighborhoods and the murals’ content), most people are fervently in favor of the color and pride that a mural can add to an area (as evidenced by the number of people who wrote letters to the editor in support of the city’s murals).

Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program (MAP) has created over 2,700 murals throughout the city, which is more than any other city in the world. It’s almost impossible to spend time in the city without noticing at least one mural. By working with community leaders such as block captains, local schools or community associations, the MAP is able to produce around 100 murals per year.

The program was founded in 1984 as part of an effort to decrease graffiti throughout the city and to work for the beautification of neighborhoods. Artist Jane Golden, now executive director of the MAP, was hired to work with graffiti artists and encourage them to use their skills more constructively.

The project currently focuses on bringing murals to interested communities and on encouraging art education throughout the city. The MAP employs over 300 artists, many of whom are involved in outreach programs targeted at low-income children in the neighborhoods where the murals are being painted. Art education is free through the MAP and is intended to teach important life skills through mural-making workshops after school and in the summer. More than 3,000 children between ages 10 and 18 are able to participate in the MAP’s art education programs every year.

The program is running an initiative right now called My North Philly, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Community Partners in Arts Access. The CPAA provides money to organizations that provide cultural programming in North Philadelphia and Camden, N.J. The MAP’s My North Philly program is working with 20 community organizations in North Philadelphia over a period of three years to create a series of murals that tell the stories of the residents of these diverse neighborhoods. So far, two out of three clusters of murals have been complete. The third cluster is currently in progress.

One of the murals from the first cluster of completed projects includes Raices Culturale, located at Fifth and Somerset Streets. The design of this mural is intended to reflect the cultural spirit of this community, located on a street known as the “Golden Block.”

Another mural was completed in a Kensington block by muralist David McShane, who also teaches at La Salle. The design for the mural was determined after many interviews with residents in community meetings and small discussion groups. The mural emphasizes Kensington’s history, with the main image consisting of a factory worker in a textile mill and two large swaths of fabric.

Since 1998, the project has also offered mural tours to help people learn more about the city’s mural art. The tours are given weekly on Saturdays and will begin again for 2007 in early April. The tours rotate weekly between Center City, North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia and West Philadelphia. If there is a fifth Saturday in a month, a Broad Street tour is available. Reservations are not required to participate in the tours, but they are strongly recommended. One trolley departs from the Independence Visitor Center at 11 a.m. Tickets can be purchased in the Visitor Center.

angeluccil1@lasalle.edu