Lovely Day

Color Me Back: A Same Day Work and Pay Program is an innovative initiative that combines participatory art-making and access to social services in a unique model offering individuals who are experiencing economic insecurity an opportunity to earn wages. Designed in partnership with the Scattergood Foundation, SEPTA, the Sheller Family Foundation, and Mental Health Partnerships, the initiative is managed by Mural Arts’ Porch Light community wellness program, a collaboration with the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services. Participants are recruited through outreach and have the opportunity to connect, contribute, and engage with outreach specialists who can link them with support services, including social and/or behavioral health services and potential opportunities for longer-term employment while working in the program.

Color Me Back at the South Broad Street SEPTA Concourse began in August 2020. This “next step” work opportunity is an evolution of the first phase of the Color Me Back project, where ten individuals who participated in Phase I were randomly selected for four consecutive four-hour work days, during which they received a variety of art-making trainings, from priming and brush skills to installation. This longer engagement with participants allowed for deeper connections and increased skill-building. The participants received payments of $50 per day, for a total of $200 for the four days of work.

This phase of Color Me Back covered 200 columns in the SEPTA concourse along the Broad Street subway line, between City Hall and Walnut Street, with brightly-colored public art, designed by Philadelphia artist Lauren Cat West and painted by the participants in the program. West spent two months in weekly workshops with program participants developing ideas and symbols to be integrated into the design before the program had to be paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now complete!

Themes include a nod to the historic and iconic geometric tiles currently in the station; Philly row homes and an abstract highlight of the “community stoop” and welcoming architectural patterns; symbols with reference to the city’s parks, independence, folk art, and historical figures; abstract representations of some of Philadelphia’s iconic buildings; other artistic symbols; and symbols of nature. With a limited five-color palette, inspired by the traditional color ways of the SEPTA subway systems (and a compliment to the surrounding colors in the existing tile work), imagery used throughout the mural took on a simplified, highly graphic visual approach.

Location note: This project is located in the underground transit concourse at Broad and Walnut Streets.