Mural Arts Program: Mural Corps

Mural Corps

Mural Corps is designed to increase educational opportunities and provide critical job skills for young people between the ages of 14 and 21 as they make the often difficult transition into adulthood. Mural Corps strives to cultivate virtuosity in the fine arts and promote youth ownership of the program. The program consists of three ten-week sessions during the school year and a six-week summer session for which participants receive a stipend.

Building Connections: Walls of Identity, Walls of Pride, © 2006 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program / Shira Walinsky, Ernel Martinez, and Mural Corps Youth, 2nd and Thompson Streets, Photo by Jack Ramsdale

Mural Corps participants work on three projects each year. For the first project, participants generate and exhibit for sale a portfolio piece of their own artwork. In the second project, Mural Corps students are mentored by professional artists and participate in all phases of the design and development of a large-scale public art project. Past Mural Corps projects have included the reclamation of a vacant lot, the production of metalwork for outdoor classrooms, various forms of mosaic-making, and ambitious new approaches to murals. The students' final project of the year requires them to work in teams and take the lead on all aspects of the planning, design, and production of a small-scale interior mural. These youth-driven murals have been located in public schools; recreation, day-care, and senior centers; homeless shelters; and public housing sites.

The Mural Arts Program has helped inspire me. I'm even considering going to art college now.

—Celiz Heredia, Mural Corps student

In addition to the traditional Mural Corps sites, the Mural Arts Program now offers Mural Corps at E3 (Education, Employment, and Empowerment) Power Centers throughout Philadelphia. A collaboration between the City of Philadelphia Department of Human Services and Philadelphia Family Court, E3 Power Centers provide programs for young people coming out of detention centers, long-term placement, or who have dropped out of school.

Site and Enrollment Information

Enrollment is open all year with an increase of openings in the fall and summer. Download a Mural Corps application and site list [134K PDF]* today.

Request a Youth Designed Mural

Over the course of the school year, teams of youth (eight-ten members) paint indoor murals throughout the City of Philadelphia to beautify and utilize public spaces for the sake of art and community outreach. These murals are meant to develop youth leadership skills. Youth lead all the meetings and design the mural under the guidance of an experienced muralist.

Download a Youth Designed Mural application. [94K PDF]*

Contact Information

For more information about the Mural Corps program, please contact Noni Clemens, Administrative Assistant, at 215.685.0753 or noni.clemens@muralarts.org.

Poem Inspires MLK Mural

In the spring of 2007, Mural Corps students completed a new mural at MLK High School in North Philadelphia. Entitled Dreams, the mural by Phillip Adams incorporates a Langston Hughes poem of the same name which served as inspiration for the mural's imagery. Adams describes the birds throughout the mural as symbols of the students at MLK, serving as metaphors for dreams in flight. Collectively they flock together, break apart and come back together, representing individual and collective dreams for the future. In this highly visible location by the entrance of the school, the poetic image of Dr. King integrated into the landscape announces both the identity and touch stone of the school.

"Tremendous energy" is carrying Hartranft transformation.

Located in North Philadelphia at 720 West Cumberland Street, Hartranft Elementary School is an enormous compound. Its blank walls are an artist's dream—a veritable blank slate just waiting for a creative makeover. Not for long. Thanks to Mural Corps, lead artist Jennie Shanker and a host of community partners, Hartranft is currently undergoing a dramatic facelift scheduled for completion later this fall. Read more…

For an in-depth look at our projects visit our blog.

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