In Philadelphia, October is Mural Arts Month — a program whose genesis goes back to 1984, when then-Mayor Wilson Goode led an effort to rid the city of graffiti. As the story goes, Goode’s initiative, the Anti-Graffiti Network, hired Jane Golden, a muralist, to “reach out to graffiti writers and to redirect their energies from destructive graffiti writing to constructive mural painting.”
She — “impressed by their raw artistic talent and their self-taught knowledge of art history” — decided to give them the opportunity to use their talents on mural-making. The Anti-Graffiti Network evolved into the Mural Arts Program, under Golden, and thus it has been ever since.
The MAP states outright that it’s a social program: “Mural painting also provided a support structure for these young men and women to refine their artistic skills, empowering them to take an active role in beautifying their own neighborhoods,” the history page of the website says. The Mission page goes even further, noting the “Art Ignites Change” and “It Ain’t About the Paint.” Rather, “What drives us is the opportunity to help life triumph over the forces of despair. We just happen to be good at painting murals.”
Since its start, the website says, the Mural Arts Program “has produced over 3,000 murals which have become a cherished part of the civic landscape and a great source of inspiration to the millions of residents and visitors who encounter them each year.” Philadelphia now calls itself “The City of Murals” and “The World’s Largest Outdoor Art Gallery” and “The Mural Capital of the World.”
During Mural Arts Month, MAP has scheduled about 25 events, including the dedication of new murals (The Evolving Face of Nursing by Meg Saligman is shown, top left, and Light Drift, an interactive mural is shown above, right), special tours, “paint days,” scavenger hunts, etc. (schedule is here).
The Mural Arts Program also calls itself
a national leader in arts in criminal and restorative justice, currently offering educational programs in local prisons and rehabilitation centers using the restorative power of art to break the cycle of crime and violence in communities. Mural Arts offers mural-making programs for adult men and women where inmates receive a stipend to create murals for schools and community centers throughout Philadelphia. Mural Arts also offers opportunities for individuals recently released from prison through its re-entry program.
Those achievements, or goals, are all laudatory. We should celebrate them.
Where I have a couple of qualms is with the program’s self-proclaimed mantra: “Art Saves Lives.” It might, but…to my knowledge, there is no credible research to support that claim, and anecdotes don’t count. If the arts community wants to make claims for art other than art for its own sake, for its intrinsic value, it needs to provide the backup.
Photo Credits: Courtesy of the Mural Arts Program