Good evening, everyone. We are delighted that you could join us tonight for the Electric Philadelphia Gateway Mural Dedication & Light Show. This is a very exciting event that combines some of my favorite things: murals, lights, and a message of hope and inspiration for our community. As the night goes on, there are three words that you will hear repeatedly — recovery, illumination, and gateway — and all three are so important to this moment.
This event is part of the Philadelphia Arts and Culture Recovery Week, a week of interactive events at community parks across the city, led by the Office of Councilmember Isaiah Thomas with support from Mural Arts Philadelphia and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation.
In the last 16 months, our community has seen hardships induced by a historic global pandemic, including severe economic challenges for individuals and businesses alike. But this time has also highlighted Philadelphia’s resilience, strength and sense of community, as we work together to recover and uplift each other. We have seen firsthand as our neighborhoods come together to support our most vulnerable neighbors and our small businesses. As our city continues to safely and responsibly reopen, we aim to provide spaces for safe social and cultural programming for everyone the best way we know how—through art.
In many ways, Electric Philadelphia represents hope and the vibrancy of our city. It physically illuminates the passageway from Old City, one of the oldest and most historic areas of Philadelphia, into the booming neighborhoods in the north, connecting our past to our future. But it also serves as a reminder that there is beauty to be found even in the darkest of times.
Gateways like this one have always been important to Mural Arts. We have created gateway art on the Airport Parking Garage, on giant fuel tanks, on walls along the railroad tracks. Our art has given life to so many blank spaces that we encounter in our day to day lives, and gateway art is especially important because it is an opportunity to add color, character and an uplifting message to areas where we may not expect to see them. It is these spaces that matter most. So, when VISIT PHILADELPHIA wanted to create a gateway into Philadelphia’s Historic District, we jumped at the opportunity to collaborate.
We are grateful to have been able to work with talented and world-renowned artists David Guinn and Drew Billiau in the creation of this exhibition, and to have had the support of our partners at the City of Philadelphia, VISIT PHILADELPHIA, and Historic Philadelphia, Inc. What a beautiful way to come together as a community and show the world that despite everything that we have been through in the last year, Philadelphia remains the famed “City of Murals,” and we will not stop creating and hosting meaningful art. As Ciarra Lambert from the Arts & Culture taskforce once said, “Philadelphia is a place where people come to see art, and where artists want to be seen.”