Cultural Event Response 5

Shari Hirsch of MuralCore Speaks about the Mural Arts Program of the City of Philadelphia

Shari Hirsch first introduced us to the Mural Arts Program of the City of Philadelphia, a program dedicated to community beautification and intervention for troubled teens that may be failing school or on their way to jail if they don’t change their lives. Hirsch runs the program known as MuralCore, which specifically focuses on teens up to age 22, teaching them the skills needed to create a successful mural, running internships, and providing paid employment. For those teens in extreme poverty, like many of those from Philadelphia, MuralCore is particularly focused on encouraging higher education and teaching valuable life skills such as leadership and good decision-making.

Originally, under Philadelphia’s Mayor Wilson Good, this program began as an anti-graffiti program with the purpose of removing graffiti from the city. Soon, however, the purpose shifted to creating community art. Hirsh emphasized that community art differs from public art in that community art is made by working with the residents, the government, and local organizations of the community. By involving the community throughout the process of creating the art, the community is given a voice that they have never had before. Although these poor communities are generally not represented in the museums, they can be represented for everyone to see by means of community art made by MuralCore.

This art is unique in that it is not made on a canvas and hung with a frame around it; it is painted or installed in the community context familiar to the every day lives of the members of the communities. These sites of community include sides of buildings, walls around construction sites, and schools. I was most interested in the McKinley School project because the MuralCore team accomplished much more than merely painting some murals; it succeeded in completely transforming the space. The space, like many school years in poor areas such as North Philadelphia, was covered with cement, dirt, and a complete lack of color.

Clearly the visual qualities of this school were not ideal for a quality learning environment, but the physical surroundings also contributed to this non-learning-conducive environment. Just next door stood a crack house. As part of the comprehensive space-transforming process, MuralCore had this house torn down. Seeing the before and after pictures amazed me, and Hirsch description of the gratitude of the teachers, parents, and kids of the school strengthened my belief in the power of individuals who join together to make real, significant changes in their own community.