Mural Arts Philadelphia once again faces funding gap in city's proposed budget
The program is meant to receive $1,396,799 less than it received in 2026.
In what’s become an annual dance for funding, Mural Arts Philadelphia executive director Jane Golden on Wednesday testified in Philadelphia City Council about what the program would lose if it doesn’t receive what it considers full funding in the next city budget.
As was the case last year, Mural Arts leaders spoke about the group’s importance in the face of a cut. The city has proposed an allocation of $3,720,189 for 2027 — $1,396,799 less than the program received in 2026.
“For us, this has always been about making sure that anyone in any neighborhood can walk out their front door and see something that reflects them,” Golden said in remarks to council members and others in budget hearings. The collaborative process of working with residents and others “is at the heart of everything we do and how we advance Mayor Parker’s priorities for Philadelphia, but also your vision and priorities for Philadelphia,” she said, citing public safety, education and “cleaner, greener neighborhoods.”
The $3.7 million proposed for Mural Arts is part of a proposed $7 billion 2027 budget presented by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker to City Council in March. This year’s Mural Arts baseline allocation is about the same as last year’s, but additional funding of $1.4 million for special projects brought the 2026 total to about $5.1 million. Mural Arts is seeking a boost to the amount for 2027, to slightly more than $5.6 million.
That special funding went to four programs: Restorative Justice, Public Art and Civic Engagement, Tacony Lab, and Mural Restoration.
For the coming year, the additional amount would help to fund those areas. It would also allow the program to support more mural projects requested by community groups, residents and council members, and to begin addressing a backlog of 195 murals that need to be restored, Golden testified Wednesday.
Golden said Mural Arts would lose staff and “valuable programs” if it were funded at the lower level for 2027.
Last May, facing a similar proposed cut in city funding, Golden testified to the importance of Mural Arts to the city — not only because of the art it produces, but also for the employment and social opportunities it provides.
Whatever the funding outcome, this was the last time Golden will have to ask City Council for a restored allocation as Mural Arts’s leader. She is slated to step down in July after running the group for more than four decades.
Council president Kenyatta Johnson said the occasion was “bittersweet,” and called Golden an “institution” who had transformed murals and “taken the city to the next level” — accolades that drew a standing ovation in council chambers.
