Summer Career Connected Learning at Mural Arts!

You might know that Mural Arts has an Art Education program, but have you heard of our summer Career Connected Learning (C2L-PHL) program? In partnership with JEVs Human Services, the Career Connected Learning PHL (C2L-PHL) program gives Philadelphia youth ages 12–24 work-based learning experience and career awareness.

Over the summer, this six-week, soft introduction to apprenticeship experience with Mural Arts introduced youth participants (ages 14-21) to hands-on work readiness skills in what it takes to be a working artist. Through project-based learning, employing drawing, painting, photography, mixed media, and mural making, the young artists learned to develop their own creative portfolio while working with both local and internationally-known artists.

This July through August, over 100 young participants created independent and collaborative artwork alongside both guest artists and teaching artists inspired by Mayor Cherelle Parker’s “One Philly: A United City! Safer, Cleaner, Greener” initiative. Youth had the opportunity to meet with the City of Philadelphia Office of Clean & Green to learn more about the city’s fight against litter and illegal dumping, as well as its potential impact on Philadelphia citizens’ quality of life. Using our neighborhoods, personal experiences, and new knowledge of city initiatives, young artists created artwork for “Cleaner Brighter Futures”, a billboard campaign aimed at inspiring and engaging community members around the beauty and potential of our city.

Painter and Mural Arts Art Education Lead Teaching Artist, Nazeer Sabree, and his students engaged in conversations about what living in Philly as a young person is like, and what they envision for a safer, cleaner, greener city expressed in a mural design. The final rendering features Mural Arts Advanced Program student and Summer C2L participant, Darius Muhammad, as the subject, and showcases Sabree’s notable ‘false face’ approach to portraiture using student generated imagery.

At another program site, youth participants learned about visiting artist El Toro’s personal practice as a designer and street artist to develop their own anti-littering and neighborhood care campaign.

In addition to civic engagement and exploring different art practices this summer, youth also had the opportunity to learn more about managing their summer paycheck with financial literacy support from Mural Arts partner, SEI.

A special thank you to JEVs Human Services, the Office of Children and Families, Philadelphia Works, the School District of Philadelphia, and Freire Charter School for their support this summer!