Our Grantmaking

Art and access to it are essential to the fabric of civic life. As a multidisciplinary grantmaker dedicated to fostering a vibrant and diverse cultural ecology in the Philadelphia region, the Center annually awards grants to organizations and artists, whose imaginative programs, events, and artistic work inspire audiences and make Philadelphia a thriving hub for culture.

Meet Our 2025 Grantees

The Center’s 44 new grants support the ideas and creative practices shaping Philadelphia’s cultural landscape and civic life. Across museum galleries and theater stages, and in public spaces ranging from cafes to historic sites, our newest grantees will create meaningful cultural experiences that spark curiosity, enliven shared spaces, and connect communities.

See the Full List of Grantees

Project Grants

Project grants in two funding areas, Performance and Exhibitions & Public Interpretation, support a spectrum of public programs that engage broad and varied publics in theaters, performing arts venues, museums, galleries, civic sites, community spaces, and neighborhoods.

An on-set reenactment of William Penn working at a desk, shot at the Colonial Preservation Farmstead at the Ridley Creek State Park on September 25, 2025. Photo by Jonathan Kohl, courtesy of History Making Productions.

In Pursuit: Philadelphia and the Making of America 

History Making Productions

A ten-part documentary series, directed by Andrew Ferrett and written by Nathaniel Popkin, offers a deep dive into the history of American democratic life through the lens of Philadelphia.

Coming Up

Philadelphia Fife and Drum. Photo by James Winston.

A More Perfect Union: Musical Reflections on Six Amendments to the U.S. Constitution

Orchestra 2001

A performance series during America’s 250th anniversary interprets six important constitutional amendments through contemporary classical music.

Coming Up

Indira Allegra on the Delaware River, 2023. Photo by Rob Blackson.

Sail Through This To That 

Delaware River Waterfront Corporation

A large-scale artwork on the Delaware River explores the pursuit of freedom and connects the lives of two women across centuries: Ona Judge, an enslaved seamstress to Martha Washington, and Rem’mie Fells, an aspiring fashion designer and trans woman killed in 2020.

Coming Up

Let Freedom Ring

Association for Public Art

Artist Paul Ramírez Jonas’ public art installation Let Freedom Ring employs the song “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” to inspire civic engagement and cooperation as the US celebrates its semiquincentennial.

Coming Up

The Basil Biggs Project

ArtPhilly

A new play by Anna Deavere Smith illuminates how individual histories inform national character, inspired by the United States’ 250th anniversary.

Pew Fellowships in the Arts

Pew Fellowships provide direct financial support through unrestricted grants to distinctive artists of all disciplines who live and work in our region.

Meet some of our Pew Fellows

Jos Duncan-Asé

Kendrah Butler-Waters

John E. Dowell Jr.

Emma Copley Eisenberg

Jonathan González

Rose Jarboe

Nathalie Joachim

Rebecca Kanach

José Ortiz-Pagán

George Rodriguez

Sosena Solomon

Omar Tate

“I believe that art should open a space where the audience can locate themselves, and in doing so, find something deeply personal and possibly transformative.”

— John E. Dowell Jr., Visual artist

“My work is about the space between the authentic self, and the self that the world reduces us to, particularly for queer people, fat people, and women.”

— Emma Copley Eisenberg, Writer

“The force of my work lies in its proposal of alternative representations for how we can holistically come together to exercise risk, care, trust, and intimacy.”

— Jonathan González, Choreographer and artist

Grantmaking Impact

$201,469,901

Total grant dollars awarded

2,032

Total number of grants in the Center's history

424

Total number of Pew Fellowships for artists