Philadelphia is a hub for the arts. In music, a scene of concerts and festivals exists among a legacy of influential performers. In theater and visual art, creators and performers often tackle contemporary issues.
Delaware Symphony Orchestra taps Michelle Di Russo as first female music director
After starting her career as a dancer and singer, Di Russo will now lead the Wilmington-based orchestra in its 120th season. (Johnny Perez-Gonzalez, May 12, 2025)
Philly group remembers gun violence victims through music
Hearing Philadelphia engages with families impacted by gun violence by offering music to help with healing. (Sandra Jones, April 5, 2025)
April is Philly Jazz Month. Mid Atlantic Arts is celebrating with concerts and education opportunities
The arts organization teamed up with Creative Philadelphia to award funding to local jazz artists and education programs throughout the month. (Cory Sharber, April 2, 2025)
Opera Philadelphia lifts voices at Broad Street Love
The Harmonious Communities program formed a choir at the service and resource center for people experiencing homelessness. (Dec. 16, 2024)
Photo essay: This year’s Philly Music Fest highlighted the city’s best, breakthroughs and next ones up
This year’s festival packed venues for six days in the metro area while raising funds for music education. (Cory Sharber, Oct. 28, 2024)
Photo essay: XPoNential Music Festival celebrates a vibrant and ‘eclectic’ music scene during 3-day fest
Thousands of music lovers gathered for the three-day festival on the Camden Waterfront to watch rising and established acts from around the country. (Cory Sharber, Sept. 22, 2024)
Philly Music Fest returns this October with 21 different acts across 7 days
This year’s festival will feature headliners Waxahatchee on Oct. 22 and singer-songwriter Amos Lee on Oct. 24. (Cory Sharber, Sept. 9, 2024)
Photo essay: West Philly Porchfest fills the neighborhood with cool tunes and good vibes
The neighborhood’s annual DIY festival didn’t disappoint, with dozens of performances dotting the neighborhood Saturday. (Cory Sharber, June 9, 2024)
Celebrating Black joy: The enduring appeal of the Roots Picnic
The Roots hosted the 15th iteration of their iconic Philly music festival with performances from Jill Scott, André 3000 and more. (Dillon Dodson, June 3, 2024)
Love in a time of dementia: ‘A Song by Mahler’ combines science and music
A piece of music theater by Marc Neikrug, about the role of music in dementia therapy, makes its Philly premiere. (Peter Crimmins, May 15, 2024)
Schoolly D, Janis Ian among new inductees in Philly’s Walk of Fame
The annual Walk of Fame ceremony returned after a pause in 2024. (Peter Crimmins, May 1, 2025)
Francis Davis critiqued jazz as a ‘force for understanding who we are’
The renowned Philadelphia writer and spouse of “Fresh Air” radio host Terry Gross died April 14 at the age of 78. (Peter Crimmins, April 25, 2025)
Patti Smith takes another look back in a new memoir, ‘Bread of Angels’
In her new book, the poet-writer-musician reflects on her childhood in Philadelphia and South Jersey, her move to Michigan and her grief over the death of her husband. (Hillel Italie, April 9, 2025)
A historic moment: Philadelphia musicians win Grammy for album showcasing unpublished songs of Florence Price
It was the first time an award for best classical solo vocal album went to music composed entirely by a Black woman. (Emily Neil, Feb. 18, 2025)
The new Kansas bassist also teaches music to adults with disabilities in West Philly
Dan McGowan, of South Jersey, has been tapped to be the newest member of Kansas. He’s keeping his day job at Inglis House. (Peter Crimmins, Dec. 6, 2024)
Speaking from the depths, Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’ continues to inspire
A new special about Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album “Nebraska” debuts Aug. 31 on WHYY. Host Matt Guilhem discusses the album’s legacy with music biographer Warren Zanes. (Matt Guilhem, Aug. 29, 2024)
The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel on new live album, tour and his ‘life-changing’ time in Philly
“My time that I lived in Philly was 100% the most inspiring time I could ever imagine,” Granduciel said. (Cory Sharber, Sept. 13, 2024)
Frankie Beverly, Philly music legend, says farewell in final hometown concert
The Philly-native singer is retiring after 50 years. He said goodbye to fans at the Dell Music Center earlier this month, where $25,000 was donated to local students. (Amanda Fitzpatrick, July 22, 2024)
The first officially sanctioned stage version of James Baldwin’s ‘Giovanni’s Room’ debuts in Germantown
Philadelphia’s Quintessence Theatre has produced the only adaptation of James Baldwin’s 1956 novel approved by his estate. (Peter Crimmins, May 30, 2025)
Philly theaters reel from sudden loss of NEA funding
Arts organizations in Philadelphia and elsewhere scramble to cope with an abrupt cancellation of promised federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. (Peter Crimmins, May 7, 2025)
Earth Day 2025: Celebrating Philly’s environmental legacy and the power of poetry
WHYY’s Jennifer Lynn and Susan Phillips explore the beauty of nature through poetry, featuring iconic poets like Amanda Gorman, Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg. (Jennifer Lynn, April 22, 2025)
Detroit, Chicago and Philly street dancing represented in Rennie Harris’ new performance
The Philly-raised choreographer pulled together dancers from three cities to show how street dancing evolves in different places. (Peter Crimmins, March 14, 2025)
Bristol Riverside Theatre reopens with the help of $2M from the commonwealth
Sorely needed renovations hope to further Bristol’s economic revival. (Peter Crimmins, Feb. 4, 2025)
The Newark ark and its mysterious creator are revived at Philly’s Theatre Exile
The enigmatic story of Kea Tawana and her visionary, defiant ark is the basis of a poetic theater piece at Theatre Exile. (Peter Crimmins, Dec. 20, 2024)
‘One-Man Nutcracker’ in Philly: After 5 years, the ballet spoof has gotten serious about dance
Chris Davis has turned his holiday comedy into a personal ballet journey. (Peter Crimmins, Dec. 10, 2024)
An opera about a maddening hum, ‘The Listeners,’ premieres in Philly
Starting with a mysterious noise of no discernible source, the opera explores political cultism. (Peter Crimmins, Sept. 25, 2024)
Fringe Festival 2024 launches by announcing its new CEO
Nell Bang-Jensen, of Theatre Horizon in Norristown, has been tapped to be next leader of the Philly Fringe Festival. (Peter Crimmins, Sept. 5, 2024)
Quintessence Theatre company buys historic Sedgwick Theater in Mt. Airy
The Art Deco movie palace cost the small theater company $2.3 million, with millions more ahead in renovations. (Peter Crimmins, July 25, 2024)
In West Philly, real life and death interfere with the Curio Theatre comedy ‘A Funeral Farce’
Curio’s original comedy about a funeral home is superseded by the creative team’s familial cancer diagnoses, one of which is terminal. (Peter Crimmins, April 18, 2025)
Brother vs. brother: InterAct Theatre’s ‘Rift’ experiments with radical empathy in Philadelphia
The two actors playing brothers trying to bridge irreconcilable racial differences switch roles every night. (Peter Crimmins, April 4, 2025)
‘This one hit close to home’: Philadelphia Theatre Company opens a musical about cancer
“Night Side Songs” by Daniel and Patrick Lazour takes on palliative care as an audience sing-along. (Peter Crimmins, Feb. 20, 2025)
Curio Theatre gets its hands dirty for the Lenape Nation
The West Philly company is using a garden bed to urge people to petition state legislators into recognizing the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania. (Peter Crimmins, Oct. 14, 2024)
How to stop worrying and love the election cycle: ‘This Is the Week That Is’ brings comedy to the presidential race
“This Is the Week That Is,” the annual spoof of current events, takes aim at the presidential election. (Peter Crimmins, Oct. 4, 2024)
After the debate, a little dessert: ‘POTUS’ brings political pratfalls to the Arden Theatre
Three blocks from the presidential debate stage, a foul-mouthed comedy cleanses the political palate. (Peter Crimmins, Sept. 13, 2024)
‘Blood Baby’ explores queer parenting with dance, theater and installation
Meg Foley’s multisite, multidisciplinary festival puts queer parenting on par with shifting tectonic plates. (Peter Crimmins, June 13, 2024)
‘In Plain Sight’: Pride Month sculpture celebrates members of the LGBTQ+ community at Cherry Street Pier
The sculpture will be displayed at the pier through June. Visit Philadelphia is seeking public input on its permanent location. (Cory Sharber, June 10, 2025)
Portrait of former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter wins national award
The Portrait Society of America awarded the painting of Nutter first place in its 2025 international portrait competition. (Tom MacDonald, June 10, 2025)
If you could see what they see: Window views of Philly employees installed at City Hall
The photo exhibit aims to humanize public sector work, which is often seen as a faceless bureaucratic wall. (Peter Crimmins, May 27, 2025)
Afromation Avenue comes to Philly’s historically Black 7th Ward
“Like seeds embedded in the soil, Black families and communities have nurtured this neighborhood,” said one of the project’s co-curators. (Lily Cohen, Nov. 22, 2024)
At the heart of it all is a heart: Franklin Institute built a state-of-the-art exhibition around an old-fashioned favorite
The “Body Odyssey” exhibit makes visitors’ own bodies part of the show. (Peter Crimmins, Nov. 22, 2024)
An Israeli muralist has been selected for Philly’s Holocaust Memorial Plaza
Ella Ponizovsky Bergelson, based in Berlin, will design a Holocaust mural for a prominent intersection on the Parkway. (Peter Crimmins, Nov. 19, 2024)
So beautiful but so terrible: Academy of Natural Sciences traces the ecology of fashion
Clothes from Drexel University’s Fox Collection dress up a cautionary tale about the environmental impact of the fashion industry. (Peter Crimmins, Nov. 18, 2024)
A digital archive of Philly artists with disabilities finds physical form at the Painted Bride
Created by a collective of artists and activists, the Undue Burden archive catalogs the creative lives of disabled, neurodivergent and chronically ill Philadelphians. (Peter Crimmins, Oct. 21, 2024)
Mural Arts celebrates 40 years with LOVE Park celebration highlighting ‘work that resonates with people’
“I don’t think we’d be here without those years of working in communities,” Executive Director Jane Golden said. (Cory Sharber, Oct. 6, 2024)
2 major arts funders are shaping the future of the arts in Philadelphia
The National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., and the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage in Philadelphia are putting millions toward changing the arts landscape. (ByPeter Crimmins, Sept. 24, 2024)
‘Do whatever you want’: Philly’s Institute of Contemporary Art brings the freedom of the yard into the gallery
An exhibition of yard art at Penn ties urban artists to a mostly Southern creative vernacular. (Peter Crimmins, July 15, 2024)
Philly Declaration House exhibit offers ‘a window into understanding’ the struggles for freedom in the United States
Through Sept. 8, the exhibit at the Declaration House asks visitors what the Declaration of Independence means to them today. (Cory Sharber, June 25, 2024)
Joyce Abbott, inspiration for ABC’s hit TV show, honored with portrait at Hamilton Elementary, where she taught
“Abbott Elementary” creator Quinta Brunson studied under Joyce Abbott in the sixth grade. Abbott has now been honored with a portrait and a renamed administrative office. (Stephen Williams, May 24, 2024)
Meet the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics’ artist-in-residence: South Philly stained-glass maker Judith Schaechter
The center explores the biological basis of aesthetic experiences. It added an artist-in-residence position in 2019. (Nicole Leonard, May 13, 2024)