Introduction
Mural Arts Philadelphia is seeking artists with experience in printmaking to design and facilitate community-based printmaking workshops that will be the foundation of a mural project related to the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

About the Project
Printmaking by the People – organized as a reflection on the nation’s semi-quincentennial – will engage people in communities across Philadelphia in a dialogue about how the Declaration of Independence has set the stage for life in our city and our nation today.

The project will reimagine printmaking’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. Our goal is to organize printmaking workshops that foster dialogue about the Declaration of Independence today – asking people to explore how we have succeeded as a nation, what work remains to be done, and what their own passions and commitments are for the future – and that allow people to express their ideas through printmaking. The workshops will inspire a mural to be created in 2026.

About the Workshops
The workshops, which would be organized in spring 2024, would be pilot projects that would be used to inform the design of a citywide workshop project that would begin later in the year and culminate in a signature mural in 2025-26.

The workshops would be held in public locations, and should last from 90 minutes to several hours. They could be structured as drop-in experiences, have a formal program, or some combination of both. Artists should expect that approximately 20 people will attend.

Mural Arts will commission a minimum of four artists, potentially more, to facilitate pilot workshops.

Scope of Work
Artists will be expected do undertake the following activities:

● Design a workshop
While each artist will be responsible for creating a unique workshop, all of the selected artists will work with Mural Arts and its partners in a collaborative mode to develop the workshop approach. The workshop approach should include both the format of the printmaking activity as well as the process of engaging participants in conversation about the . The printmaking activity should allow people to take a print home as well as to leave a copy or a digital image for an archive, and the engagement should address the theme outlined above.
● Produce a workshop
This includes the securing of all materials, supplies and equipment necessary and transporting to and from the workshop site.
● Collaborate with Mural Arts on evaluation of workshop

Mural Arts will be expected to provide the following:
● Support workshop design process, including providing prompts that participants can respond to.
● Secure locations for workshops
● Assist with location set-up and breakdown
● Provide marketing / communications / publicity for workshops
● Document workshops
● Pay the artists a fee to cover artist services, materials and supplies

Deliverables
● Documentation of workshop plan
● Workshop event

Fee, Budget and Schedule
Artists will be paid $1,000 for their services. We will provide a budget of up to $350 for an assistant, materials, supplies and other expenses for each workshop. From our observation of similar workshops, we believe an assistant will be needed, and we can help provide an assistant for artists who can find one. Alternatively, a collaborative team should share the artist and assistant fees. Artists will be selected by the end of March, 2024. Workshop development phase will take place in April, 2024. This will include convenings of artists and the Mural Arts team, in person or via video conference. Workshop implementation phase will take place in May and June, 2024.

Qualifications
● Artists must live or work in Philadelphia
● Artists must have experience in at least one form of printmaking, as demonstrated by production, sales,
exhibition, teaching or other ongoing practice
● Artists must have experience leading community workshops
● Individual artists or artist teams are encouraged to apply.

How to Apply
Interested artists should submit the following materials to Mural Arts:

● A cover letter, explaining:

– What motivates you / interests you most about the project?
– How would you connect the process of printmaking to the commemoration of the project
– What are your feelings about the commemoration of the Declaration of Independence?
– How would you involve / engage with stakeholders?
– What type of printmaking would you propose for your workshop? How would you organize the workshop? What are the key challenges to address?
– What help would you need from Mural Arts?

● Your resume
● Contact information for two references who can speak to your ability to do this work
● Up to ten images of your work, with a list that identifies the images or a link to a web page where we can view your work.

Format all materials as separate files.

Submission Information
Deadline for submissions, March 15, 2024
Please send submissions to todd.bressi@muralarts.org
Please transmit files or send a link to a Dropbox or a Google Drive folder.
Submit questions via email to: todd.bressi@muralarts.org