Features

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Alice Sheppard & Laurel Lawson dance together using their wheelchairs and balancing off of each other onstage.

“Access artists” like Alice Sheppard, Natalie de Segonzac, and Carolyn Lazard ignite new languages in dance, theater, and visual art

“The access is the art”

Disabled artists like Alice Sheppard, Natalie de Segonzac, and Carolyn Lazard prove that access is its own art form, defying a deficit mentality and centering inclusion from the start in exhilarating new art forms. Wendy Univer explores.
Wendy Univer

Wendy Univer

Features 8 minute read
Book cover: Title above, author below in green text; framed by realistic illustrations of flora in pink yellow purple & green

You or Someone You Love: Reflections from an Abortion Doula, by Hannah Matthews

One year after Dobbs, anti-abortion politics have a “crystal clear” impact in Philly exam rooms

The damage of last year’s Supreme Court decision ending our right to abortion continues to unfold. T.S. Mendola speaks with local providers, and considers You or Someone You Love a sensitive new book by abortion doula Hannah Matthews.
T.S. Mendola

T.S. Mendola

Features 4 minute read
Exterior view of the huge ship on the river under a bright blue sky. An American flag flies in the foreground.

Meet Camden’s Battleship New Jersey, a great summer trip for Philly-area history fans

All aboard the Big J

On the way to the shore, writer and teacher Bart Stump noticed an intriguing destination while crossing the Ben Franklin: Camden’s Battleship New Jersey, which turns a massive US warship into a public museum.
Bart Stump

Bart Stump

Features 5 minute read
Ma, a Chinese woman in flowing blue & pink traditional garb poses smiling with a blue fan above her head outside City Hall.

Before international artists can hit the Philly stage, they face US immigration

The trouble with visas

Philly loves bringing international artists to our cultural scene. But whether they come from Brazil or China, England or Nigeria, they face a gauntlet of challenges from US immigration law. Camille Bacon-Smith gets an often-invisible story.
Camille Bacon-Smith

Camille Bacon-Smith

Features 7 minute read
Black & white photo of 10 men onstage in suits, many of them raising a fist. Silhouetted audience members also raise fists

As fights for fair labor continue, Waiting For Lefty is a timely revival at Quintessence Theatre Group

“A story that needs to be told”

A revival of the American classic Waiting For Lefty highlights unionization efforts within and outside the arts industry. Melissa Lin Sturges speaks with director Kyle Haden about the power of storytelling and the importance of the collective.
Melissa Lin Sturges

Melissa Lin Sturges

Features 5 minute read
Black & white photo of the orchestra, with Stokowski on a podium at center, posing onstage with audience on risers behind.

The Academy of Music and the Philadelphia Orchestra’s archives get a new home at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Preserving Philly’s classical musical heritage

A beautiful but inaccessible room at the Academy of Music housed almost 200 years of Philly cultural history. Now, the Philadelphia Orchestra teams with Penn Libraries to give the archives a new home. Margaret Darby visits.
Margaret Darby

Margaret Darby

Features 4 minute read
Aerial photo of Philly’s center city skyscrapers, with a mellow blue sky and the setting sun glinting off the buildings.

Three immigrants to Philadelphia share their journeys, and what the city means to them

“What is Philadelphia?”

As we continue to welcome buses of asylum-seekers from Texas, we know immigrant communities are vital to Philly. Emily Savidge speaks with three people who came here from very different parts of the world. What does Philly mean to them?
Emily Savidge

Emily Savidge

Features 5 minute read
A minimalist wooden table & chair with striking lines & curves sits in warm-colored space with a clay mask & 2 video screens

The Fabric Workshop and Museum presents Rose B. Simpson: Dream House

“The most personal work I’ve ever done”

Internationally known mixed-media artist Rose B. Simpson adds architectural installation and video work to her wide-ranging repertoire for the first time in this special exhibition at the Fabric Workshop and Museum. Emily B. Schilling visits.
Emily Schilling

Emily Schilling

Features 4 minute read
A head-and-shoulders portrait of a woman with short dark hair and serious eyes, done in Modigliani’s elongated style.

The Barnes Foundation’s Modigliani Up Close will feature newly examined paintings

Expanding the Modigliani canon?

A new Barnes exhibition detailing the latest scholarship and technology in the world of Modigliani has a big surprise: four previously unverified paintings will be on the walls. Emily Schilling looks closer.
Emily Schilling

Emily Schilling

Features 10 minute read
8 very fine chairs displayed on a gallery wall in two rows. They all have different shapes, colors, and decorative flourishes

From the chairman to the dead man’s chest: what our furniture says about us

What makes furniture art?

When is a chair more than a chair? How does furniture reveal our tastes and history? Camille Bacon-Smith asks experts at the Barnes and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Camille Bacon-Smith

Camille Bacon-Smith

Features 6 minute read