“What does safety mean to you?” That’s the question filmmaker Aaron Brokenbough explored through a recent public art project in Philadelphia focused on the concept of public safety and how it should be prioritized by the city. 

Brokenbough recently wrapped up the project as part of his residency with People’s Budget, a public art initiative run by Mural Arts Philadelphia. His time as the artist-in-residence included a public screening of a short film featuring in-studio interviews with local organizers and fellow media makers. It culminated in Philadelphia’s John F. Kennedy Plaza, more commonly known as LOVE Park, where the filmmaker and People’s Budget volunteers asked passersby their thoughts on what would make the city safer. The answers included more green spaces, wider access to mental health services, and—to Brokenbough’s surprise—heavier police presence and stricter curfews for teens.

Now entering its fourth year, People’s Budget is designed to educate Philadelphians about the municipal budget and inspire their engagement in shaping the city’s funding priorities. Particularly since the 2020 global uprising against police violence, when activists led charges to defund and abolish the police, budgets on all levels of government have been increasingly understood as “moral documents” dictating what government officials care most about. As described by Mural Arts, municipal budgets are “more than numbers, they narrate the future of our city.”  

Throughout the budget season, People’s Budget hosts public trainings, including “101” workshops that provide an overview of how the budget works as well as deeper dives into specific aspects of city funding. Additionally, the project coordinates a survey designed to capture and analyze what priorities residents most want to see reflected in the upcoming budget. Importantly, People’s Budget fuels these conversations via public art projects such as those created by their artists-in-residence. The People’s Budget artist residency allows local artists to immerse themselves in research about the city’s budget and then create a project about a specific part of the fiscal budget. 

Prism sat down with Brokenbough to discuss his work, expansive notions of public safety, and what answers—and new questions—this project generated for him. 

This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity. 

Tamar Sarai: How did you land on public safety as the focus of your residency project?

Aaron Brokenbough: I felt like public safety was so encompassing of so many other things. If we had these greener spaces, housing, and had people making above $7.25 an hour—this is what the people need to feel safe.

Through the residency, I learned how much money is given to the police department. This year, over $800 million—30% of the city’s fiscal budget—is dedicated to the police department. From the conversations that I’ve had so far with people, they have a very different idea of what safety looks like. The initial studio sessions that I did, that were shown during the residency, featured people from various regions of the city, across age, backgrounds, and gender identities. I tried to be as diverse with it as possible because I was trying to stress that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to this. But if we have conversations that allow people to really explore what safety looks like, then we have a better idea of where funding could possibly go. 

One person in the video brings up wanting to have more green spaces. Then, I talked to my partner, who is actually from the Northeast [neighborhood]. One of the things that has really spoken to him recently is the plane crash that happened and how that neighborhood is still kind of shaken up, but there are not enough resources being allocated for their mental health or the PTSD that the neighborhood is going through.

Sarai: What responses most surprised you?

Brokenbough: Hearing the amount of people who wanted more police presence was interesting. I don’t think that it’s bad; I think it just speaks to people’s most basic idea of what safety means to them. I struggle with that idea personally. I have rarely seen a police officer de-escalate a situation in a way that actually felt like it was safer, but it’s interesting to hear. 

This one guy told me we need more police at City Hall, because these kids had just tried to steal his bag, and then a younger dude from the Northeast, who grew up in North Philly, was saying that we need more police and a stricter curfew.

There’s been so much more conversation since George Floyd’s death about divestment of police departments in different major cities, but it doesn’t change the fact that there are people who respect and really see the value of police officers. It’s difficult to give people this safe space to share their ideas and real thoughts because it could easily turn into a different conversation where I’m trying to explain to them why police officers are bad or why there needs to be divestment. But instead, I have to honor that this is what people feel they need to be safe. 

Sarai: How much do you attribute that demand for city curfews to recent media coverage and panic about youth crime? 

Brokenbough: Well, it’s a conversation that the city’s been having since I was a kid. Yes, there have been some instances where kids have done some really, really violent things to people that have been covered by the news, and it’s scary to say the least, but I also don’t think it’s as common as people would like it to be. And if the bigger concern is the fact that these kids have nothing else to do but to “terrorize the city,” then what are we doing to make sure that we’re giving those kids something to do? What it would look like if there were more vocational schools, after-school programs, and workforce training that could actually help them find their passions. There are young folks in the city who are doing wonderful work and are in programs and organizations that are doing wonderful things, but that’s something that we don’t necessarily focus on a lot. It’s always been a conversation that the youth are just so unruly, but then there’s very little done to make sure these unruly youth are given resources. We can’t sit there and demonize them and then not give them opportunities.

Tamar: What are any takeaways you have as you exit the residency?

Brokenbough: The People’s Budget Office has been so great. When you allow yourself to really get wrapped up in it, you can learn a lot. But I say that as someone who was also given the opportunity and the privilege and the resources to spend the last budget season learning more about the budget and going to budget hearings. Because how accessible is this information? The budget is a 500-page PDF that is accessible to the people of the city, but who has time to read 500 pages? Who has time to go downtown to do a testimony about something they believe in when it’s done in the middle of the day? What are we doing to make the citizens of the city’s voices more accessible? Would that look like more video testimonies that people can share? Would that look like a more flexible schedule when it comes to the budget season? 

It’s been interesting to see people come up, learn more about [People’s Budget], and sign up for the newsletter. But I realized there were way more white people trying to become more active and have their voices heard. That’s concerning because it’s just one demographic of people who are voicing their concerns, and other people are left out. Are we making these resources multilingual? Are we going to spaces that are heavily populated with Black folks? What are we doing to actually have a more diverse conversation about the budget of the city?

I think that’s why it was cool that the People’s Budget goes to different parts of the city to do Budget 101 meetings. But even then, the trainings can be late at night. It’s hard, but I think as long as you’re trying, that’s the best that we can do. 

Editorial Team:
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