Lauren Cat West Paints SEPTA’s South Broad Street Underground Concourse

Loving this new project from Philly-based artist Lauren Cat West, Mural Arts Philadelphia, SEPTA, and Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS) that’s painting about 200 columns throughout SEPTA’s South Broad Street underground concourse!

One thing that makes this project particularly special is that in addition to artist Lauren Cat West the columns are being painted by 10 participants through a Mural Arts and DBHIDS collaborative program that offers low-barrier work opportunities to Philadelphians experiencing economic insecurity. (Read more about the ongoing program here.)

Kicked off last winter just before COVID-19 and ultimately put on pause, this concourse column project was restarted last month. And it should be finished sometime this November. As someone who uses SEPTA and this concourse often, I absolutely love how this fun, colorful series has brightened the underground!