A citywide mural project you can believe in

The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program tonight will host the first of seven community forums to get input for a 25th anniversary, citywide mural project on the theme: "This We Believe."

Starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Church of Philadelphia, 17th Street and Snyder Avenue, in South Philadelphia, residents will be asked to share stories that illustrate the theme, which is borrowed from the National Public Radio personal-essay series, "This I Believe."

Two teams of artists will incorporate the beliefs of participants of all seven forums into proposed murals, and later, residents will pick the mural that most represents the theme.

"Murals are about what is possible," said Harris Sokoloff, director of the Penn Project for Civic Engagement, which is running the forums with WHYY.

"And these forums are an opportunity for people to come out and talk about their beliefs and what's possible for the city, rather than focusing on the negatives."

Tonight will represent a different kind of civic engagement for Sokoloff.

Just last night, Sokoloff was to conduct the last of four city workshops during which top officials in Mayor Nutter's administration listened to residents' priorities in the face of a budget crisis.

Unlike the budget workshops, the mural-arts forums will ask people to talk about about what makes Philly, well, Philly.

"We're going to ask people to share a story with someone else," Sokoloff said.

People will sit in pairs and "interview each other and ask what it's like to live where they live, what it feels like, tastes like, smells like, sounds like," Sokoloff said.

"Out of that, we will talk about what they believe - what beliefs or values are implied in that story."

Sokoloff and Chris Satullo, WHYY's executive director of news and civic dialogue, will lead each forum.

The remaining forums, which run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., are:

* Tomorrow: John Perzel Community Center, on St. Vincent Street near Battersby, in the Northeast.

* Thursday: WHYY's studio on 6th Street near Race.

* Monday: Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. Martin's Lane and Willow Grove Avenue, Chestnut Hill .

* March 3: Rosenberger Hall, University of the Sciences, 43rd Street and Chester Avenue, West Philadelphia.

* March 9: Project HOME's Honickman Learning Center, Judson Street near Berks, North Philadelphia.

* March 10: Meyers Recreation Center, 58th Street and Chester Avenue, Southwest Philadelphia. *