Abstract
This thesis is a study of The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program(hereafter abbreviated to MAP). MAP is an affiliated organization of the City of Philadelphia made in 1996, to utilize it socially and educationally by producing the mur...
Abstract
This thesis is a study of The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program(hereafter abbreviated to MAP). MAP is an affiliated organization of the City of Philadelphia made in 1996, to utilize it socially and educationally by producing the mural not only to glam up the city and to establish its identity but also with the object of rehabilitating the residents.
MAP is an extended reorganization of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network(hereafter abbreviated to PAGN), which has been founded in 1984. In January 1984, the then mayor of Philadelphia, Willie Wilson Goode(tenure:1984~1992) has founded PAGN in order to produce city change systematically through experts. Graffiti, which became popular in Philadelphia from the 1970s, are forms of letters written like drawings on buildings, walls or piers etc. all over the city in groups as to mark the territory of each group by youngsters dubbed as the graffiti writers. Mayor Goode, who figured that this is desecrating the fine view of the city, has legalized and forbidden it along with having the graffiti writers signing to renounce graffiti. He, thereafter, had mural produced in the city solely through PAGN.
Ed Rendell(tenure:1992~2000), who was elected as the incoming mayor in 1996, has not only quantitatively expanded and qualitatively specialized the intracity mural production but has also expanded and reorganized PAGN to MAP in order to avail mural paintings in various ways. Owing to do so, the city government not only has categorized PAGN, which was an independent city affiliated organization, to a competent organization of the city’s Department of Recreation but also has assigned a special expert to be exclusively in charge of this. Jane Golden, who’s a professional mural artist, was the first to be selected as the one in charge and is still currently on duty. Jane Golden has founded the Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocate which is a nonprofit corporation in order to increase operating funds other than the government supported elementary fund. Currently, finance for the Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocate is composed of subsidies offered by the Federal and City Government, Citizen Bank, Goldman Properties and other diverse enterprises, by non-profit foundations such as the Independence Foundation or the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, contribution donated by individual supporters, and furthermore by profits created from program managements, etc.
The undertaking of MAP consists of mural production and its application. Mural pieces of MAP are produced in two methods. Though professional artists hold a large majority, participants of programs that are associated with the community do produce the mural as well.
City murals proceeded by MAP is generally classified under 8 steps; 1)Artist selection, 2)Site selection, 3)Budget compilation, 4)Gathering opinions about the mural & Local residents participating the workshop, 5)Design the mural and seek approval from persons concerned(residents, MAP, mural artists), 6)Wall and Site repair and preparation, 7)Paint and Install the mural, 8)Open a dedication event. Local residents, staffs from MAP, mural artists, etc. join the dedication event. The socially associated mural producing programs include Art educations that train Public Art to teenagers, Restorative Justice Program which involve criminal in mural producing and The Porch Light Initiative which is to heal mental illness through art. Mural pieces produced in these two methods can be viewed through touring programs offered by MAP and profits created through the touring programs are spent to run MAP.
Through PAGN and MAP, from 1984 and after, approximately 3,600 mural pieces were produced in the City of Philadelphia. In result, Philadelphia has acquired international reputation for achieving both artistic superiority and social innovation which led to obtain the title “Mural Capital of the World”.
I have classified the topic of mural under 3 themes in order to inspect the efficacy of mural arts; 1)Enhancement of pride and identity about one’s region and nation. 2)Rebuilding a constructive city through concord, rehabilitation and healing of the society and people. 3)Beautification of the city. These themes hinge on where the site of production is, and what racial, industrial and economical propensity the corresponded local residents have.
According to MAP’s homepage, their business goal is to combine artists and the community together through the procedure of mural producing collaboration. On this analogy, in most existing studies the communal ideal of the regions that mural pieces are drawn and the relative achievement are stressed, which correspond with what MAP suggests. MAP, actually has bettered the image of Philadelphia through mural paintings. Furthermore, MAP has become the organization that hires the most artists in Philadelphia. Through this, Mural pieces of MAP resulted to reflect political and economical understanding of the City of Philadelphia and the artist. Pertaining to this, the fusion phenomenon of the city government’s political purpose and artists’ economical understanding occurred in the course of selecting the theme of the mural art has come to my attention. Therefore, I have also analyzed the effect and limit of the large scale program of Public arts which is promoted by the city government along with contemplating economical effects such as job creation and tour inducements from MAP. Meanwhile, I have proposed the realistic limitation and gap I have discovered during my visit to sites of mural paintings.
In the case of Korea, by the beginning of the 1980s, Urban Development, Asian Game, and the Olympics paved the way for mural production being encouraged for improving visual environment of the city. Since the 1990s, various mural projects advocating to express identity of region communities and city beautification etc. has been carried out targeting places like villages, schools or parks. Though numerous mural paintings are being produced with high profile, methodical system hasn’t been established and post management is insufficient after being produced. Thus, I introduce MAP, which isn’t yet known in detail in Korea and by analyzing the achievements and limitation of MAP, which became the model of Mural Project, not only in the United States but around the globe, I hope this study can be a reference that suits the domestic reality when Public Mural Projects, and furthermore, when Public Arts Projects are to be established in Korea.