A bustling spring arts season brings us closer to America’s Semiquincentennial, with many Center grantees offering perspectives on the country’s 250th anniversary. Across Philadelphia, performances, installations, television documentaries, and museum exhibitions will interpret and interrogate American history. The months ahead also bring the first reading of a new theatrical work, a world premiere performance for choir and orchestra, deep dives into community history, and a glimpse into the future of jazz. Find out where you can experience these events and more in our 2026 spring arts guide.
Reflections on America’s 250th Anniversary
In Pursuit
April 2 – 18 and beyond
History Making Productions
A documentary series examines the history of America through the lens of Philadelphia, with each chapter premiering in a public screening before its wider release online. Held at historically and culturally significant locations such as Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and Parkway Central Library, these screenings pair the film with conversations about how Philadelphia’s past and present continue to shape the American story.
The First Salute
April 23, 2026 – April 2027
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History
An expansive exhibition gives voice to a group rarely featured in the story of the American Revolution: the Jewish people who played a part in the founding of the nation. The First Salute centers on the Caribbean Island of St. Eustatius, where a group of Jewish merchants who helped deliver gunpowder and supplies to Washington’s army were the first international entity to recognize the United States. Through first-hand accounts and historical records, the exhibition provides new insight into the country's pursuit of religious liberty and self-determination.
The Declaration’s Journey
New programs start in April; on view through January 3, 2027
Museum of the American Revolution
An ongoing exhibition that traces the history and impact of America’s founding document, The Declaration’s Journey is complemented this spring by the Read the Revolution speaker series, highlighting books that explore American history from a variety of angles. On April 16, Dr. Ned Blackhawk looks at America from an Indigenous perspective in a discussion of his book The Rediscovery of America; Laurie Halse Anderson talks about interpreting history for young readers on May 14; and Francis D. Cogliano and Peter S. Onuf will speak about their new book Thomas Jefferson Survives on June 3.
America Today
April 24 – July 25
The Print Center
Six community-centered, mission-based printshops across the US consider the breadth of the American experience in the context of the nation’s 250th anniversary in this exhibition at The Print Center. America Today offers a contemporary perspective on the nation’s historic ideals, highlighting new voices in printmaking and the power of print as a medium for expressing political perspectives and urgent concerns.
A More Perfect Union
May 26 – June 11
Orchestra 2001
From concert halls to pub crawls, five significant amendments to the United States Constitution are the topic of performances by Orchestra 2001 at an array of venues across Philadelphia this spring. The ensemble will play contemporary works by 30 American composers—including 7 Pulitzer- and Grammy-winners, and 15 Philadelphians—musically interpreting Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition; the Right to Bear Arms; the abolition of slavery; women’s right to vote; and the repeal of Prohibition.
Sail Through This To That
May 28 – June 30
Delaware River Waterfront Corporation
A large-scale installation on schooners docked at Spruce Street Harbor Park uses hand-sewn sails to explore the pursuit of freedom and connect 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. Created by artist and poet Indira Allegra and curated by Rob Blackson, Sail Through This To That is “a story of freedom, identity, and remembrance” presented as part of Art Philly’s What Now: 2026 festival.
Let Freedom Ring
June 4 – September 27
Association for Public Art
A public art installation at Cherry Street Pier will use a patriotic anthem to inspire civic engagement and cooperation. The 32 bells of artist Paul Ramírez Jonas’ Let Freedom Ring play “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” but leave the final note silent, inviting visitors to ring it out together using a 600-pound bell at the base of the sculpture. The sculpture is inscribed with statements about freedom, encouraging further conversation.
New Work on Screen
The Travels of Ibn Jubayr
March 31
Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture
This short film re-imagines an 800-year-old Andalusian text as “an Arab Don Quixote navigating the vagaries of the Arab world and navigating the question of faith,” says co-producer Joseph Fahim. Directed by Alaa Eddine Aljem, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr is filled with sweeping cinematography shot in the Tunisian desert as it follows the title character’s pilgrimage to Mecca. The film premiered March 25 at Lightbox Film Center and screens again March 31 at The Rotunda, accompanied by a live performance of its atmospheric score by experimental composer Maurice Louca.
Botany of Nations
April 2
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
The third annual Confluence Film Festival at the Academy of Natural Sciences is themed around the concept “seeding the future,” and its opening night launches with a screening of a short film by Cass Gardiner, Botany Of Nations, that centers the Indigenous stewardship of plant specimens collected by the Lewis and Clark exhibition, a topic explored further in the Academy’s newest exhibition of the same name.
Stories of Land and Community
Botany of Nations
March 27, 2026 – February 14, 2027
Academy of Natural Sciences
Designed in collaboration with Indigenous community advisors, the exhibition Botany of Nations offers a culturally layered view of the plants of North America collected during the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery. The exhibition examines how Native Nations shaped America’s plant knowledge long before Western scientists claimed these discoveries. Following its opening reception (March 27, 6 p.m.), the project will include public lectures and interactive programming throughout its year-long run, exploring native food practices, gardening, and land stewardship.
Poquessing Trail of History
March 28 – June 27
Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia
A continuing series of public events and site-specific installations along the Poquessing Creek Trail tells the story of the diverse peoples of Philadelphia’s Byberry neighborhood and the area’s role in early American history. This season’s series of monthly events includes a workshop on medicinal plants in the time of physician and Declaration of Independence signer Benjamin Rush; a dramatic presentation about abolitionists Robert and Harriet Purvis and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850; and a celebration honoring Byberry Township’s African American Burial Ground.
Theatrical Premieres
The Animal Farm Project
April 18
Wilma Theater
In spring of 2027, the Wilma Theater will present a newly devised staging of Animal Farm, reflecting on the play that launched the company in 1979, and viewing the story through a modern lens. Though the full production is a year away, audiences can get an early preview on April 18 when Animal Farm is the subject of the theater’s One-Night Only Reading series.
The Woman Question
May 6 – May 24
People’s Light
A new play tells stories from historical records of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, the first medical school to exclusively grant women medical degrees. Created by playwright Suli Holum and director Melissa Crespo, The Woman Question recounts the experiences of those who led the charge for women’s health and reproductive freedom 150 years ago and interweaves them with the experiences of 21st-century women who are medical students, doctors, nurses, and patients.
Musical Performances and Conversations
Soundscapes for Tomorrow
April 23
Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts
Over the next two years, Philadelphia's historic Clef Club venue hosts a series of residencies with five acclaimed jazz artists as they develop new work and give audiences a window into the creative process. The project kicks off with the Soundscapes in Conversation event, bringing together composers and multi-instrumentalists Tia Fuller, Derrick Hodge, Nabate Isles, Papo Vazquez, and Miguel Zenon to discuss artistic lineage, cultural identity, and the ideas shaping the future of jazz.
A Hundred Years On
June 17
Highmark Mann Center for the Performing Arts
The stories of five fictional characters who experience a day at the Centennial Exposition are told in A Hundred Years On, a new oratorio composed by Peter Boyer, with a libretto by Mark Campbell. The work makes its world premiere at Highmark Mann Center in Fairmount Park, the site of the expo 150 years ago, performed by The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Crossing Choir, and featured soloists. The research-based piece features period costumes and video projections as it explores a young American democracy.
Retrospectives on Visual Artists
Raw Material
Closes April 5
Hurford Center for the Arts and Humanities
Pioneering feminist artist and filmmaker Susan Kleckner is the subject of a retrospective exhibition this spring at Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery on the campus of Haverford College. Raw Material collects over four decades of creative experimentation that were described by Forbes as “photographs, films, installations, collages, and performances [that] held nothing back so that we might see the world in a different way.”
Syd Carpenter: Planting in Place, Time, and Memory
Through May 24
Woodmere Art Museum
An exhibition surveying the five-decade career of sculptor, ceramic artist, and Pew Fellow Syd Carpenter is on view at Woodmere Art Museum through May. Planting in Place, Time, and Memory explores key themes the artist often returns to: African American history, farming iconography, the human body, and "the elemental materiality of clay." On April 24, Carpenter will be joined by fellow ceramicist Sana Musasama for a talk about their lives as artists and teachers, exploring the power of creativity and imagination to build meaningful connections.
