Pew Center for Arts and Heritage

Get our monthly newsletter in your inbox for the latest on cultural events, ideas, conversations, and grantmaking news in Philadelphia and beyond.

Main page contents

Friends, Peace, and Sanctuary

Swarthmore College
An image from Daniel Heyman’s Bearing Witness, an artist’s book about the Iraq War. Photo courtesy of Swarthmore Library.
An image from Daniel Heyman’s Bearing Witness, an artist’s book about the Iraq War. Photo courtesy of Swarthmore Library.
Book artist Angela Lorenz describes her work, Life, Life Eternal Life: Uncle Wiggily Meets The Pilgrim’s Progress, to patrons of the McCabe Library. Photo courtesy of Swarthmore Library.
Book artist Angela Lorenz describes her work, Life, Life Eternal Life: Uncle Wiggily Meets The Pilgrim’s Progress, to patrons of the McCabe Library. Photo courtesy of Swarthmore Library.
Staff and residents of Scattergood Hostel, 1940. Scattergood Hostel, a former Quaker boarding school, was used as a hostel for refugees fleeing Germany after 1940. Photo courtesy of the Peace Collection, Swarthmore College.
Staff and residents of Scattergood Hostel, 1940. Scattergood Hostel, a former Quaker boarding school, was used as a hostel for refugees fleeing Germany after 1940. Photo courtesy of the Peace Collection, Swarthmore College.
Artwork created by NSC clients through a partnership with Build a Bridge International. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Artwork created by NSC clients through a partnership with Build a Bridge International. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Swarthmore College's Friends, Peace, and Sanctuary will bring together book artists and members of Philadelphia’s Iraqi and Syrian refugee communities to create artists’ books that amplify personal narratives of displacement, immigration, and sanctuary. Working in partnership with the immigrant and refugee service organization Nationalities Service Center, Swarthmore will invite a group of refugees to work with three book artists and participate in multi-day workshops designed to provide access to new creative tools, and to explore various aspects of visual storytelling, artistic expression, and craft. Swarthmore’s library collections—including a large book arts collection and the “Peace Collection,” the largest archive of peace-related material in the US—will be made available to participants, with materials translated into Arabic. Both the workshop participants and the book artists will create books for a culminating exhibition, and an exhibition catalogue will document the project and the artistic work.

Additional unrestricted funds are added to each grant for general operating support.
 

Recipient
Swarthmore College

Swarthmore College

Since its founding in 1864, Swarthmore College has given students the knowledge, insight, skills, and experience to become leaders for the common good. Offering a liberal arts and engineering curriculum, the College draws students from around the world and all 50 states. Academic programs in the arts at Swarthmore include studio art, art history, creative writing, dance, film and media, music, and theater. 

More info
News

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Announces 2017 Grants for Philadelphia Artists, Organizations

Jun 19, 2017
Explore Connections
Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses, 2025 installation view, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Photo by Constance Mensh.

Artist Carl Cheng on the Nature of Being Contemporary
Interview Tradition & Translation
Mary Testa, Taylor Trensch, and Jordan Dobson in Night Side Songs at Philadelphia Theatre Company. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.
Director Taibi Magar on Night Side Songs and the Power of Sharing Stories
Michelle Lopez, Ballast & Barricades solo exhibition, 2019-20. Photo by Constance Mensh, courtesy of the artist. 
Must-See Cultural Events in Philadelphia for Your 2025 Calendar
Pew Fellows Carmen Maria Machado and Vitche-Boul Ra. Photos by Neal Santos.
Fellow to Fellow: Carmen Maria Machado and Vitche-Boul Ra on Blending Genres and the Hidden Work of Being an Artist
Interview Cross-Disciplinary Practices
EgoPo Classic Theater, rehearsal for Ramayana with Papermoon Puppet Theatre and Kalanari Theatre Movement, 2023, Java, Indonesia. Photo courtesy of EgoPo. 

Projects in Process: Wilma Theater and EgoPo on Creative Collaborations
Essay Co-Authorship & Collaboration
Photography related to this content

Poet Ross Gay on Sport and the Act of Looking
Video Cross-Disciplinary Practices
The Barnes Foundation, Returning to Before, performed as part of William Edmondson: A Monumental Vision exhibition, choreographed by Brendan Fernandes. Photo by Daniel Jackson for Embassy: Interactive.
Choreographer Brendan Fernandes on Dance in Museums
Video Site-Specific Performance
Pew Fellows Candice Iloh and Armando Veve. Photos by Neal Santos.

Fellow to Fellow: Candice Iloh and Armando Veve Find Inspiration in Each Other’s Mediums
Interview Cross-Disciplinary Practices
Enrique Bostelmann, Portrait of Cora Flores, 1980, part of Mirages series.

Projects in Process: Discoveries in the Archives with Berman Museum and Japan America Society
Essay Legacy & Archives