Printmaking By the People

Current Opportunities 

We are searching for a Lead Artist to lead the mural design process. Depending on the artist’s availability, interest and skills, the artist can also be involved in the workshop process that leads to the mural and in the production / installation of the mural. The artist must have a strong connection to Philadelphia, and can work in any medium, including printmaking, graphic design, mural design. Teams are welcome to apply.

If you are interested in leading the mural design process, please review this background information and respond to this form.

We are searching for teams of artists (printmakers) or printmaking organizations to facilitate community-based workshops throughout the city over the next six to eight months. Qualified teams / organizations will be matched with community-based locations, and can also propose a workshop for their own facility.

If you are an artist team or an organization that would like to organize workshops for us, please review this background information and fill out this form.

We are inviting any community organization that would like to host a workshop to apply for consideration. Please respond by filling out this form.  Please note that our funding allows for  a limited number of workshops available, and we will want to make sure we reach all areas of the city, so we may not be able to schedule workshops for all applicants.

About the Project  

Printmaking by the People is a citywide dialogue and public art project about how the Declaration of Independence has set the stage for life in our city and our nation today.

The project is revisiting and reimagining printing’s historic role in public communication and civic dialogue, particularly its roots in Philadelphia as a means of disseminating debates about the movement for independence.

The project will hone in on the Declaration’s promise of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” to the emerging nation. Today, we will ask people to explore where we have succeeded at that, what work remains to be done, and what their own passions and commitments are for the future — and express their ideas through posters that they design and print themselves.

Throughout 2025, Mural Arts and its partners will be facilitating artist-led workshops across the city, featuring small-group dialogue and hands-on printmaking activities. Their posters will inspire a mural that will be created in Center City Philadelphia, will be featured in an exhibition at Parkway Central Library and branch libraries, and will be uploaded into an online archive.

Read more in our July, 2024 blog post here.

Upcoming Community Workshops 

Watch for updates to this schedule. Please note instructions for RSVP

• January 20, 2025, 9:30 am  |  Global Citizen’s  MLK Jr. Day of Service  |  Girard College. RSVP at this link.
• April 12, 2025, 10am – 1pm |   printPHILLY2025!  |  Parkway Central Library, pop up (tentative)
• May 17 or 18, 2025, 1pm to 3pm  |   DaVinci Art Alliance, led by Sofie Seymour and Joy Lai. RSVP link to come.

Project Partners and Team 

Lead Partners

Free Library of Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA250

Visit Philadelphia

Partners and Advisors

Common Press, University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia Print Center

Philadelphia Print Consortium

Brandywine Workshop and Archive

Second State Press

Soapbox Community Print Shop and Zine Library

Pilot Workshop Artists

Bill Brookover and Rhonda Viscusi-Babb; Chloe Epstein; Monika Lin; Lori Raggio
Ava Haitz, Belle Handler, Hannah Moog, Jack Tobin-Gross
Sofie Seymour and Joy Lai; Dre Grigoropol and Corey Bechelli

Project Managers

Todd Bressi, Lindsey Rosenberg, Ava Haitz

Funders

Connelly Foundation / Funders Collaborative for 2026

Philadelphia250