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Below are the Centennial Celebration grants awarded in Philadelphia:
Mural Arts Program
Lincoln Financial Mural Arts Center
In September 2005, the Mural Arts Program was awarded a $250,000 Centennial grant for the creation of a new Lincoln Financial Mural Arts Center, adjacent to the program's current facility. The public-private initiative also will be supported with a precedent-setting $200,000 from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a generous grant of $100,000 from the City of Philadelphia. With the renovation of the current facility and the addition of more than 3,000 additional square feet in the adjacent property, the Mural Arts Program will double its current capacity allowing the program to serve more young people from the neighborhood as well as youth from throughout the city of Philadelphia.
Lincoln Legacy Mural Project
The Lincoln Financial Foundation Centennial grant to the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program funded the Lincoln Legacy Mural Project, a citywide mural project that fused civic education, community discussions, and artwork centered around Lincoln's legacy and its relevance today.
The project includes the creation of two landmark murals, educational opportunities for hundreds of school children to learn about Lincoln as well as mural history and technique, and town meetings to engage a broad group of constituents. The first mural, located at 707 Chestnut Street entitled "Legacy", was a mosaic made of luminescent Venetian-glass tile created by Josh Sarantitis. The second mural by Jared Bader will be designed and completed in October 2006 and is located one block away from "Legacy" at 8th and Ranstead.
 Students from five School District of Philadelphia schools in Center City studied Lincoln's biography and the issues that led to the Civil War. Art was an important part of the 16-week curriculum, as students integrated what they learned into images and symbols, and also learned about mosaic mural-making. The students worked with master muralist Josh Sarantitis to create a mosaic design, which they helped assemble with the aid of a unique computer program and workstations at each school. The students also worked on smaller, painted murals that now hang in prominent locations at their schools.
The students, along with the public at large, also participated in town hall meetings held monthly at the National Constitutional Center. These discussions brought together community members, experts from area colleges and universities, parents, teachers and activists to discuss issues such as civil rights, civil liberties, and self-governance in the context of both American history and current events.
Justice Squares, small murals on the topic of justice, were created through these meetings. The Justice Squares raise awareness, build excitement, and challenge the viewers to think about social justice in today's world.
For more information about the Mural Arts Program, please visit the Mural Arts Program Web site.
WHYY
The Lincoln Financial Foundation awarded a $750,000 Centennial grant to WHYY, in honor of Lincoln Financial Group's 100th anniversary, to create the Lincoln Financial Digital Education Studio within WHYY's Learning Lab, a planned state-of-the-art facility to be built adjacent to WHYY's headquarters.
 Read how you can become part of the WHYY Learning Lab initiative. (409K)
National Constitution Center
In 2004, The Constitution Center announced a Centennial grant of $1 million from Lincoln Financial Group that supported the development of the Center's inaugural changing exhibit, Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War, which ran from June 10 through November 4, 2005. Creation of the traveling exhibit was supported by the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Ind. The exhibit travelled to Fort Wayne, Ind., in 2006 and plans are underway to have the exhibit travel through Abraham Lincoln's Bicentennial Celebration in 2009.
For more information about the National Constitution Center, please visit the National Constitution Center Web site.
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