Recipient
ArtPhilly
ArtPhilly connects audiences to each other through ongoing artistic programming, commissions of original work, and a recurring multidisciplinary city-wide festival.
A new play by Anna Deavere Smith illuminates how individual histories inform national character, inspired by the United States’ 250th anniversary. Smith’s research into pre-20th-century Pennsylvania history centers around her family’s northern migration from the South and their lives during the Civil War and extends beyond her biological family to histories that predate the Civil War. The playwright, actor, and professor collaborates with scholars, conducts personal interviews, and reviews documents in libraries, independent collections, and other local archives, building on a journalistic theater technique she has developed over more than 15 shows. The project culminates with highly produced readings during ArtPhilly’s What Now: 2026 Festival.
The total grant amount represents project funding plus an additional 20% in unrestricted general operating support.
