Just blocks from one of the premier art museums in the world lies North Philadelphia's Fairmount neighborhood. But once a year, Fairmount is more than just Art Museum-adjacent, bringing all the neighborhood's best artists out of the woodwork and into the frame for the Fairmount Arts Crawl. Started seven years ago by neighborhood art activists, the Fairmount Arts Crawl brings local artists and their works to various neighborhood businesses and meeting places every spring. With the event just six months away,
Fairmount CDC officials, who have since been handed control of the event, begin preparations this week, issuing a request for proposals to any and all local artists interested in a neighborhood exhibition.
"This year, we are really trying to cast our net wider this year," says Fairmount CDC Executive Director Rebecca Johnson. "We hope this will give artists another venue, another avenue to expose their artwork to the public."
For the local homeowners in the neighborhood, CDC officials have created a poster contest to bring in revenue and create a seminal event poster to capture a quintessential event in their community. CDC officials hope the poster will be a key advertising feature, a great souvenir and a way to raise revenue. Interested artists should send work
here.
"This artist from the community created a famous 'Doors of Fairmount' poster three years ago and people are still really interested," says Johnson. "People who live in the neighborhood want to have a piece of art that reflects their neighborhood so we wanted to create an official arts crawl poster as a keepsake."
Source: Rebecca Johnson, Fairmount CDC
Writer: John Steele