Conversations & Recordings
Our practice in Philadelphia and beyond.
Our practice in Philadelphia and beyond.
Land and Liberation: Ecological Freedom as Creative Practice Dr. Christina Castro, Carlton Turner, and Israel Haros Lopez in conversation with Sepideah Mohsenian Rahman Visual Notes by Tessa Hulls for the Arts & Environmental Justice Symposium May 17-21, 2021
Mural Arts offers think-tank-style public programming on topics connected to socially engaged art. We bring artists, curators, activists, scholars, and leaders from Philadelphia and beyond to explore and share their knowledge on the relationship between public art and social change.
This space offers documentation of or in relation to current and past conversations hosted by Mural Arts’ different program areas and the Mural Arts Institute more specifically. Check our events page for upcoming programming.
Mural Arts Philadelphia seeks applications for a new residency program designed to engage an educator in meaningful collaboration with Mural Arts teaching artists and Art Education staff. The Educator-in-Residence will help identify and deepen best practices, provide professional development to Mural Arts teaching artists & Art Education staff, and propose new approaches based on the needs of program participants.
The Educator-in-Residence will serve as a thought-leader and our “eyes and ears” to the field for the Spring and Summer. The Educator-in-Residence is afforded a stipend, and access to staff and resources to develop and realize their projects. We seek applications from dynamic educators to act in an advisory role to the Art Education department, lead professional development sessions, and develop curricular and classroom resources for teaching artists.
TIMELINE: (Spring/Summer 2023):
Desired Qualifications:
Requirements:
Compensation:
The Educator-in-Residence will receive a stipend of $8,000 (May 2023 – August 2023).
This Educator-in-Residence can complete most functions remotely, but will be required to complete a minimum of three in-person observations of our Art Education programming in Philadelphia during the residency period (May 2023 – August 2023). This position is not eligible for benefits.
To apply, please submit a resume and the following materials, with subject line “Educator-in-Residence_Your Name,” to arted.resumes@muralarts.org by Friday, April 14, 2023
Art & Environmental Justice Symposium, September 12 – 23, 2022
The Mural Arts Institute hosted a two-week long series of events exploring the intersection of environmental justice and art. Built upon the work of artists and activists stewarding this work across the country through the Arts and Environmental Justice Capacity Building Initiative, Mural Arts Philadelphia brought together conversations, workshops, and events that highlighted transformative cultural practices and participatory public art that shift ecological, political, and social experiences of front-line communities.
This symposium was envisioned by Sepideah Mohsenian-Rahman, Mural Arts Institute Collaborator and former Program Manager.
See below for the conversation recordings. Click through to YouTube for descriptions.
Two short documentaries outline the collaborative, participatory arts-based processes utilized to address local environmental justice issues in communities in Austin, TX and Kern County, CA. These films are preceded by two earlier mini documentaries created in 2021 (see below) that set the context for the environmental issues explored further in 2022.
Click here to view the film Estamos Aqui, We Are Here by Fabian Vasquez Euresti sharing documentation of a project led by Dr. Rosanna Esparza and Michelle Glass. It is the culmination of a 2 year process of environmental justice in Kern County, CA.
Click here to view the film produced by Lynae Carroll and Alexandria Anderson that highlights stories of communities in east Austin that have been impacted by institutional racism and environmental injustice.
On Apr 14, 2022, the Mural Arts Institute (MAI) hosted a conversation reflecting on the past and present of muralism and the role artists and cultural institutions play in stewarding collective memory. Judy Baca, acclaimed muralist and Co-Founder of the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in Los Angeles, and Jane Golden, Founder of Mural Arts Philadelphia discussed the field of socially engaged public art and commemorated over the past three decades. The discussion was moderated by MAI Director Netanel Portier.
See below for the conversation recordings.
On October 14, 2021, the Mural Arts Institute presented “Towards Repair & Fabrication: Ritual, Art, and Ecologies of Justice,” facilitated by Sepideah Mohsenian-Rahman and Katelyn Rivas. They discussed weaving the intersectionality of racial and environmental justice that serves as the foundation for more just futures. Charlyn/Magdaline Griffith/Oro, of WHOLISTIC.art, the Free Brunch Program, and currently in Chronicling Resistance Fellowship with the Philadelphia Area Special Collections Libraries, discussed their new work the Maaluseum and in conversation with Liz Kennedy, of Lead to Life and the Allied Media Conference. They engaged in an intergenerational, interdisciplinary conversation exploring ancestral and earth-based technologies, personal healing practices, and creative community engagement that informs their restorative work for people and the planet
This free week-long symposium looking at the transformative work happening at the intersection of arts, community-based cultural practice, and environmental justice. The COVID-19 pandemic has further stressed the same communities already grappling with acute climate and environmental crises, both economically and in terms of inequitable health care access and outcomes, and the conversations and workshops that have taken place during the symposium explored how creative people and practices are helping us meet the challenges of this moment.
Several conversations at the symposium were captured by the live illustrations of Tessa Hulls. Illustration_Tessa Hulls.
See below for the conversation recordings. Click through to YouTube for descriptions and speaker bios.
Cities that have worked with the Mural Arts Institute’s Arts and Environment Capacity Building Initiative have created short documentaries about environmental justice issues in their communities, and what a more just future would look like. Below are eight films from Akron, Ohio; Austin, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; Kern County, California; Memphis, Tennessee; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and two films from various movements in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Join us for a conversation with first-generation anti-colonial scholar Jaskiran Dhillon, and Tlingit member of Kwanlin Dun First Nation queer Indigenous scholar Anne Spice as we explore the centrality of Indigenous knowledge and resistance in shaping our collective future. Water protectors at Standing Rock shifted the entire discourse of the environmental justice movement. What role do creative practices play in contemporary resistance movements around environmental justice? This program is presented by the Mural Arts Institute , through the Arts + Environment Capacity Building Initiative, and in partnership with the Environmental Justice Department at Mural Arts Philadelphia.
Mural Arts works to promote the health and wellbeing of individuals as well as communities, especially those who are experiencing food insecurity, substance use, and mental health issues. How are we applying the lessons we’ve learned and the approaches we’ve developed to the new challenges the COVID-19 pandemic poses to our personal health?
As COVID-19 sets into sharp relief the inequalities in our communities, muraLAB: Art in Action will examine how socially-engaged art can help us develop better strategies for dealing with broad systemic issues. muraLAB discussions will be hosted on Zoom and streamed live on the Mural Arts Facebook page. Check our events page for upcoming programming.
The public health measures instituted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have struck at the very heart of our ability to come together as friends, neighbors and communities. How is this reshaping the strategies and tactics that Mural Arts has been using to promote connectivity and strengthen resilience, and what has this been teaching us about the very nature of community?
The coronavirus pandemic has forced our city and the rest of the world into crisis mode. In the six weeks since Philadelphia began to enforce quarantine, Mural Arts has worked to innovate quickly at the intersection of art and public health. How can creative practice help us protect each other? How can city agencies collaborate with the arts to foster safe spaces and respond to the pandemic? The goal of this panel is to share learnings to date and discuss new paths forward.
Artists and partners of Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Reimagining Reentry fellowship program examine the problems posed by mass incarceration on both a personal and a systemic level, illuminating the human cost and potential solutions. With the COVID-19 crisis, those problems are more urgent than ever, as large numbers of people are released from incarceration into communities struggling with the crisis, and people remaining in incarceration face deadly health risks.
The Mural Arts Institute is supported by The JPB Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
We strongly encourage you to opt-in to receiving emergency messages regarding any potential City closures by visiting the City’s site dedicated to the COVID-19 outbreak, phila.gov/covid-19 and opting into text messages by texting COVIDPHL to 888-777.