Keep Marching: Philly Celebrates MLK with Nine Student-Painted Sculptures Around Town

*This post is a part of a paid partnership with Comcast*

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and over the weekend painted busts of Dr. King were installed around Philadelphia to honor his legacy and celebrate his dream.

These temporary additions to Philadelphia’s public art and monument landscape are a part of a community art project titled  Keep Marching that saw over 50 Philadelphia students from Art-Reach in partnership with the Overbrook School for the Blind, Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence Region, Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, and Girard College paint nine six-foot-tall busts of MLK inspired by some of the civil rights leader’s most influential and enduring quotes.

Keep Marching was commissioned by Comcast and is part of their ongoing Voices of the Civil Rights Movement program, a multimedia collaboration with the Equal Justice Initiative launched in 2013 that honors the legacy and impact of the men and women who championed racial equality in the United States.

And today I’m excited to announce that I’ve partnered with Comcast to document and explore Keep Marching and the work of these students over the coming weeks across Streets Dept’s blog and social media channels, so be sure to stay tuned (especially to my Instagram) to hear and see more about the people and inspirations behind this project! You can also learn more at the project’s website here.

Go see these, y’all! All nine of the sculptures will remain up through the end of February. Here’s where you can find them:

African American Museum in Philadelphia

Location: 7th and Arch streets
Hours: This bust is indoors, so be sure to check the location’s hours here!
 
 

Betsy Ross House

Location: 239 Arch street
Hours: This bust is outdoors, but in a courtyard that closes, so be sure to check the location’s hours here!
 
 

City Hall

Location: The Market East Portal of City Hall, in the hallway outside of The Office of Arts, Culture and The Creative Economy (Room 116)
Hours: This bust is indoors, so be sure to check the location’s hours here!
 
 

Comcast Center Plaza

Location: 17th street and JFK boulevard
Hours: This bust is outdoors and viewable at all hours!
 
 

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Location: Broad and Spruce streets
Hours: This bust is indoors, so be sure to check the location’s hours here!
 
 

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Location: On the Art Museum Steps
Hours: The two busts located here are outdoors and viewable at all hours!
 
 

Philadelphia School District Main Building

(The Philadelphia School District was closed all weekend and through today, MLK Day, so I don’t have a photo of this location’s bust just yet, but I will update this post as soon as I do!)
Location: 440 North Broad street
Hours: This bust is indoors, so be sure to check the location’s hours here!
 
 

Temple University

Location: At the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection (Sullivan Hall 1330 Polett Walk, 1st Floor)
Hours: This bust is indoors, so be sure to check the location’s hours here!