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

Camas Root as depicted in Edwards's Botanical Register v.18, London, 1832. Image courtesy of the Academy of Natural Sciences.

Botany of Nations: Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

Designed in collaboration with Indigenous community advisors, a new exhibition revisits the 200-plus carefully preserved North American plant specimens collected during the 1804–06 Lewis and Clark expedition.

St. Eustatius, United States Department of the Navy. Image courtesy of The Weitzman.

The First Salute: An Untold Story of the American Revolution

Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

An expansive exhibition marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by giving voice to a group rarely featured in the story of America’s revolution: the Jewish people.

Happening Now

Moki Cherry, Title Unknown (Dragon), 1975; textile appliqué tapestry (silk, cotton, mixed fabrics). Photo courtesy of: Anders Sune Berg, Galleri Nicolai Wallner.

The Living Temple: The World of Moki Cherry

Ars Nova Workshop

A retrospective at the Fabric Workshop and Museum centers around Swedish visual artist and designer Moki Cherry, bringing together textiles, paintings and drawings, music, video, and other media.

Happening Now

Pew Fellow Syd Carpenter, 3 Mother Pins on a Vine, 2021; Clay, mixed media, 18" x 37" x 26". Photo courtesy of the artist.

Syd Carpenter: Planting in Place, Time, and Memory

Woodmere Art Museum

A multi-site retrospective for ceramic artist and Pew Fellow Syd Carpenter spans her five-decade career, centering on themes in her body of work, including historical Black American land practices and clay as a metaphor for collective memory.

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