People’s Budget Office Mural Arts Philadelphia

1. Introduction

Over the last four years, Mural Arts and Phoebe Bachman have worked together to produce the People’s Budget Office, a public art project about the city budget. These projects aimed to increase public awareness through popular education on the city’s budget process and offer a platform for residents to share what the city should fund. Artistic outcomes included Quilts handmade by residents across the city showing priorities for the budget, postcards to city council members, a People's Budget Festival, a series of People's Budget posters wheat-pasted across the city, a People’s Budget Office installation at LOVE Park, and a People’s Budget Roundtable Performance. The goals of these projects is to advocate, negotiate, collaborate, and dream of a city budget that is more just, equitable, and sustainable.

Read more about previous projects!

Now we invite artists to join us again for the FY26 Budget cycle!

From late April to June, the People's Budget Office will open in LOVE Park as a space for city residents to co-create the People's Budget. We intend for the People's Budget Office to be an accessible location for residents to learn about the budget from city officials, everyday Philadelphians, and grassroots groups.

Artists, Researchers, and Activists are invited to participate in two-week residencies during the installation, visualizing and re-imagining the budget by creating new artwork. Participants can apply as individuals or as a collaborative team. During their residences, selected residents are asked to participate in city wide workshops, host one public event at the People’s Budget Office (workshop, teach-in, performance), attend a hearing at City Hall, and contribute something lasting to the People's Budget Office. Before the “in-office” residency, residents will need to attend a teach-in on the city budget and research their topic area. 

The project is created in partnership with Councilmember Kendra Brooks’ Office, Councilmember Nicholas O’Rourke’s Office, and Philadelphia Revenue Project. The City’s Budget Office will host teach-ins on the budget process and provide important details about the proposed budget. Additionally, they will serve as a liaison to other offices as needed.  

Key dates:

• Jan 3: RFQ Announced
• Jan 24: Application due
• Jan late: Artists Announced 
• Feb - April: Teach-ins and research 
• Early March: Proposed budget introduced by Mayor Parker 
• April: People’s Budget Hearing 
• Late April: People’s Budget Office Opening
• April 18 - May 2: Residency 1
• May 2 - 16: Residency 2
• May 16 - 30: Residency 3

2. Background (full project description)

The People’s Budget Office is a public art project that aims to increase public awareness through popular education on the city’s budget process and offer a platform for residents to share what the city should fund. While budgets are complex financial documents, they are also a mission statement for the city – a real-world accounting of officials’ priorities. 

Over the last three years Mural Arts with artist Phoebe Bachman, have produced a series of art projects about the city budget. The goal is to advocate, negotiate, collaborate, and dream of a city budget that is more just, equitable, and sustainable. 

The first project, Stitching our Futures was a collaboration between artists Phoebe Bachman and Jesse Krimes about the FY22 budget. The first phase consisted of a series of online teach-ins that covered different parts of the city budget. City officials, activists, and non-profit leaders participated in roundtables touching on five core themes: how we live together and share space, how we exchange and steward, how we heal and protect our communities, how we learn and grow, and how we govern and administrate. Participants then created quilt squares of what they wanted to see included in the budget. Those were stitched together into two quilts and displayed at a budget event over the summer. Participatory postcards were also distributed as part of the project and shared with city council members. Partners included the City of Philadelphia Budget Office, Social Justice Sewing Academy, Philadelphia Modern Quilt Guild, and Philadelphia Revenue Project. 

For FY23, A People’s Budget, artist Phoebe Bachman convened a group of five artists to collectively reimagine Philadelphia’s city budget. Selected artists Blanche Brown, Eugenio Salas, Samantha Rise, and Maia Chao researched the city budget through meetings with budget officials, department heads, and grassroots organizations. They worked to visualize the five core components of the city budget used in the previous year. Through these negotiations, artists created a series of posters wheat-pasted across Philly and a People’s Budget Festival in May that invited the public to imagine what they want to see from the budget. Partners included the City of Philadelphia Budget Office, Councilmember Kendra Brooks’ Office, and Philadelphia Revenue Project.  

In FY24, members of the artistic team from the previous year proposed to create a temporary installation near city hall, the People’s Budget Office. The People’s Budget Office was a public art installation at LOVE Park where residents co-created this year’s People’s Budget Report. Residents artists Erik Ruin, Arshayla Robinson, Maria Möller, josh graupera Visitors engaged in hands-on programs, watched budget proceedings, and attended engaging events that cover urgent issues. 

In FY25, we continued the People’s Budget Office and added a series of workshops in neighborhoods across the city plus a new People’s Budget Hearing at City Hall. The project will expand upon research from previous years and focus on core themes that emerged from the People's Budget Office report FY24. These themes include:

• Quality & Accessible Services
• Education & Youth Enrichment
• Public Safety & Criminal Justice
• Housing, Homelessness, Gentrification & Development
• Transportation & Infrastructure
• Health & Mental Health
• Arts & Culture
• Labor & Employment
• Tax, Revenue & Local Economy

3. Scope of Work, Budget and Schedule

Scope of Work

The resident will be responsible for the following work:

• Attend a budget 101 teach-in 
• Demonstrate a general understanding the overall budget process 
• Research a specific aspect of the budget and present that research back to the rest of the residents 
• Attend a neighborhood based budget workshop 
• Participate in creating communications materials for the People’s Budget Office that reflect their research
• Develop and produce a public event during their two week residency, with help from Mural Arts
• Be on-site at the People’s Budget Office at least 2 days of their residency 
• Leave a lasting contribution to the People’s Budget Office 

Mural Arts Responsibility

• Manage the People’s Budget project, including the development of the People’s Budget Office 
• Coordinate workshops around the city 
• Manage communications of the overall project
• Manage contracts for residents and other participants in the People’s Budget Office
• Liaise with City’s Budget Office, Council Members, and grassroots groups to participate in the People’s Budget Office 
• Manage the working hours of the People’s Budget Office 

Artist Fee and Budget

Three selected participants will be compensated a $2,500 flat fee for their participation. This includes independent research, attending and participating in budget teach-ins, creating original artwork(s), and an event and/or installation at the People's Budget Office. 

Residents will have access to an additional $500 available for materials as needed for the People’s Budget Office. Further funding may be made available for installation, to be discussed with the project team.   

4. Artist Selection Process

Eligibility

Residents should be based in the Philadelphia area 

Process

The residents should apply via the Airtable form (linked here) and will be reviewed by a panel of former residents, Mural Arts staff, and staff from the City Budget Office. Selected residents will be informed in late January. 

Qualifications and Review Criteria

We are looking for the following:

• An interest in the city budget 
• Enthusiasm to creatively interpret the budget
• Experience working with city departments or in community 
• Willingness to work collaboratively 
• Experience producing creative outputs  
• Experience producing creative events, workshops, or performances