Philly’s Secret Treasures
This weekend I took a trip out to the city of brotherly love to visit my brother Kevin. While there, I went on a unique tour within the City Center that I highly recommend to anyone visiting Philly.
Prior to visiting Philadelphia, I had never known that the city is the Mural Capital of the World. Once you make your way around, you can immediately feel its effects. The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program is one of the nation’s largest public arts initiatives of its kind. Their mission is to engage in art education and community public art collaborations, and to increase public access to art.
The Mural Arts Program began in 1984 as a component of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network, an effort to eradicate the graffiti crisis plaguing the city. Since the Mural Arts Program began, they have produced over 2,800 murals and educated over 20,000 underserved youth in neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia.
Due to its success, cities across the world are turning to Philadelphia to see how they can replicate the program for their own community…including Brooklyn.
I am amazed with how the community holds such pride in these impressive works of art. It gives the city a much cleaner and artistic presence that you don’t often get in many urban locations.
The Mural Arts Program offers weekly and daily public, guided and trolley tours that visit five neighborhoods (City Center, North, South, West Philadelphia and Broad Street).
- Philly’s Secret Treasures
- by Scott Slattery
- Tagged: arts, murals, Philadelphia, Philly, vacations