Documentary Premiere: If You Could Hear These Walls

To shine a new light on our existing work, in 2014 Mural Arts partnered with the American Composers Forum – Philadelphia Chapter to present If You Could Hear These Walls, a community engagement project featuring residencies, new music written for Philadelphia murals and performances to celebrate both mural art and community identity.

Fourteen Philadelphia composers created compositions inspired by three murals – Southeast by Southeast painted by Shira Walinsky and Miriam Singer, Peace is a Haiku Song painted by Josh Sarantitis and Parris Stancell and Henry Ossawa Tanner: Letters of Influence painted by Keir Johnston. Composers are also engaged members of the communities surrounding the murals by teaching them about music, composition and performance and, in some cases, involving them directly in the composition or performance of their music. Finally, they presented their music at each mural site during Mural Arts Month (October 2014).

Since the project activities concluded in November 2014, Skout Media has been busy working on a documentary about the project. The documentary offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the composers created new music inspired by art and how they touched the lives of local Philadelphians.

Join us for the premiere screening on July 12 from 2 to 4 p.m. at I-House Philly. The premiere will be both a celebration of the project and the beginning of an effort to bring the impact of this project to a larger audience. The composers and community members will also reunite for this event. Light refreshments will be provided.

Come discover what is possible when composers offer their passion and talent in order to impact the lives of community members through music!

For directions, parking, and other venue information, please visit the International House Philadelphia website.

View a trailer here. Read more about the collaboration here.