{"id":11212,"date":"2025-10-22T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/11212\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T12:00:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:00:31","slug":"phillys-next-lgbtq-mural-is-taking-shape-and-local-artists-can-apply-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/11212\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly\u2019s next LGBTQ+ mural is taking shape \u2014 and local artists can apply now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mural Arts Philadelphia is seeking an artist to design, paint and install a new LGBTQ+ leaders diptych mural in Philadelphia\u2019s Gayborhood that will honor LGBTQ+ trailblazers and queer history, in time for Pride Month in 2026. This exterior mural, once completed, will be located at 1221 St James St. and will showcase LGBTQ+ trailblazers including Gloria Casarez and other leaders who will be selected throughout the mural creation process.<\/p>\n

In partnership with the Washington Square West Civic Association, Councilmember Rue Landau\u2019s office and other community groups, Mural Arts Philadelphia has put out a call for LGBTQ+-identifying artists living and\/or working in Philadelphia or the greater Philadelphia region. <\/p>\n

The process will begin with a request for qualifications, which will be accepted on a rolling basis through Nov. 2. Once that submission window closes, a panel will select three artists, all of whom will be asked to submit designs. From there, a lead artist will be chosen, and work on the mural will commence.<\/p>\n

Conrad Benner, founder and editor of the art blog Streets Dept<\/a>, is managing the project and shared his insights into what Mural Arts Philadelphia is seeking with the mural and the expected impact of this public art for Philadelphia and the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 40 years, Mural Arts has been creating murals around the city of Philadelphia with community, and, for many decades now, working with various wall owners in the Gayborhood to represent queer history,\u201d Benner said. \u201cI think it\u2019s a really important time to continue to share the stories of LGBTQ+ people in our public spaces with projects like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benner highlighted that this mural is particularly meaningful because it will represent real LGBTQ+ leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of public art in the Gayborhood, and some of it honors real queer history, some of it\u2019s more imagined, so I like that we\u2019re adding more real people who lived on this Earth, who contributed to our community in numerous ways,\u201d Benner said.<\/p>\n

Benner also spoke about how this new mural will be connected to other major LGBTQ+ murals in Philadelphia, including Nil\u00e9 Livingston\u2019s Philadelphia ballroom mural, \u201cFinally on 13th.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Benner explained, \u201cCertainly, with \u2018Finally on 13th,\u2019 we are honoring a number of living legends in the city\u2026So, I think, [this is] just an opportunity to honor some of our heroes, some of the people who have been leaders in the community. They are in conversation in the sense that we\u2019re honoring real people and real leaders in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding what an LGBTQ+ trailblazer looks like, Benner shared, \u201cI think, just like the LGBTQ+ community, it probably looks different for everyone in different ways. Drawing a comparison to [\u2018Finally on 13th\u2019], folks in that mural tore a path for so many people in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benner said the mural will honor leaders from a range of backgrounds \u2014 including politics, activism and community work \u2014 and added that Mural Arts is seeking experienced artists who have completed large-scale projects and can demonstrate a clear artistic style in their previous work.<\/p>\n

\u201cArtists have styles, and you can sort of get a sense of a direction they might walk in for a project like this by looking at some of their past work, so that\u2019s how we\u2019ll be evaluating that first round,\u201d Benner said.<\/p>\n

Collaboration is also a key component of this mural, even with one lead artist being chosen.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the mural projects I work on are artist-led, where the artist sort of takes the vision, and we\u2019re always building public art, so we\u2019re always in communication with the community. But this is a very special one because we\u2019re calling it the \u2018LGBTQ+ Leaders Mural,\u2019\u201d Benner said. \u201cWe want to make sure that people from the community, in the Gayborhood, the wall owner, the community that ignited this mural, and people from the LGBTQ+ community [feel represented].\u201d<\/p>\n

Emphasizing just how collaborative and community-oriented Benner wants this project to be, he said, \u201cIf you feel strongly about or have an idea about this mural, please reach out to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mural Arts Philadelphia will facilitate two community paint days, inviting community members to experience painting the approved mural design ahead of the mural installation, reinforcing the collaborative nature of the project.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the lead artist will work with stakeholders, including the panel, community members and the site owner, and incorporate feedback throughout the process.<\/p>\n

Benner also highlighted the mural\u2019s planned dedication in June 2026, timed for Pride Month and ahead of the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very excited that this will be launching in 2026, when a lot of the eyes of the world are on us,\u201d Benner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really special that this particular mural project will be dedicated in 2026,\u201d Benner elaborated. \u201cHaving this \u2018LGBTQ+ Leaders Mural\u2019 that will honor some of our historic LGBTQ+ individuals here in the city of Philadelphia, launching in 2026 is really \u2014 I think \u2014 beautiful. I mean, people will be here for history and for art and for conversation, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re offering. I think it\u2019ll lie in with the rest of what the city is doing really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

LGBTQ+ artists interested in applying for the \u201cLGBTQ+ Leaders Mural\u201d can find details and submit applications at muralartsinstitute.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mural Arts Philadelphia is seeking an artist to design, paint and install a new LGBTQ+ leaders diptych mural…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8861,8862,8863,8864,8865,8866,69,71,70,2299,8867,8868],"class_list":["post-11212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-conrad-benner","tag-finally-on-13th","tag-gloria-casarez","tag-lgbtq-leaders-mural","tag-mural-arts-philadelphia","tag-nile-livingston","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-rue-landau","tag-streets-dept","tag-washington-square-west-civic-association"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}