Mural Arts Philadelphia may lose $1 million under Mayor Parker’s new budget
The new financial plan could reduce the organization’s total funding to $2.68 million per year for the next five years.
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Per Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s first budget proposal to City Council, Mural Arts Philadelphia may face a $1 million funding loss in 2025.
The mayor’s $6.29 billion budget proposal, released March 14, looks to clean up trash-ridden streets, recruit additional police officers, and end Kensington’s open drug market, among other things.
“It’s my first budget proposal as your mayor and it’s big and it’s bold,” Parker said during her address. “I‘m calling it the ‘One Philly Budget,’ and it funds my promise to the people of Philadelphia of a safer, cleaner, greener city, with access to economic opportunity for all.”
Earlier this month, Parker selected Valerie Gay as the city’s new head of arts and culture. The trained soprano was recently deputy director of audience engagement and chief experience officer at the Barnes Foundation.
If the “One Philly Budget” is approved, it could be one of the largest financial drops Mural Arts has seen in recent years.
The long-running arts organization, which specializes in project-based community programming, has more than $3.68 million in city funding in its total operating budget of $18.3 million for the year. Parker’s proposed budget could reduce the city’s portion to $2.68 million per year for the next five years.
In 2024, Mural Arts received several state, federal, and private grants that will not recur in 2025. Owing to grant terms, the organization is not eligible to reapply for the grants for several years. But once budget hearings begin, Mural Arts will start ”advocating with [the] city, as additional funds can be allocated to the organization with Council support,” Mural Arts officials said.
The $1 million funding loss isn’t a surprise, Mural Arts officials said. The $2.68 million city total was already planned under former Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration and was adopted by Parker in the new financial plan.
As Mural Arts continues to analyze Parker’s proposal, Chad Eric Smith, senior director of communications and brand management at Mural Arts, said he and others will work closely with Parker and her administration to help the mayor’s “new vision for arts and culture to Philadelphia communities.”
“The organization has been fortunate enough to receive increased funding over the past four years when advocating with City Council, allowing it to enhance programs and projects,” Smith said. “Mural Arts looks forward to continuing its dialogue with the administration and City Council regarding its proposed budget so it can fully support the mayor’s vision of a safer, cleaner, and greener Philadelphia.”
No decisions will be made about Mural Arts programming and initiatives until a final budget has been approved.
In February, Parker addressed the importance of the art and culture sector in Philly during a news conference for the renaming of Verizon Hall, which, starting in June, will be named in honor of contralto and civil rights leader Marian Anderson. “You are what I would consider to be a part of the nucleus of what is a great unifier in our globe, in our Commonwealth and here in our city, no matter the race, class, socio-economic status, the zip code, sexual orientation or identity, and/or religion. There is something about melody, music, and art that allows us to feel our human oneness,” she said at the time.