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Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge

Mural Arts Philadelphia
Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge Neighborhood Convening, June 29, 2015. 632 Jackson Street. Photo by Steve Weinik. Courtesy of the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.
Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge Neighborhood Convening, June 29, 2015. 632 Jackson Street. Photo by Steve Weinik. Courtesy of the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.
Community members partake in Mifflin Square Alliance Festival in September 2015, part of Mural Art Program’s Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge. Photo by Steve Weinik. 
Community members partake in Mifflin Square Alliance Festival in September 2015, part of Mural Art Program’s Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge. Photo by Steve Weinik. 
Mifflin Square Alliance Festival in September 2015, part of Mural Art Program’s Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Mifflin Square Alliance Festival in September 2015, part of Mural Art Program’s Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Community members partake in Mifflin Square Alliance Festival in September 2015, part of Mural Art Program’s Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge. Photo by Steve Weinik. 
Community members partake in Mifflin Square Alliance Festival in September 2015, part of Mural Art Program’s Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge. Photo by Steve Weinik. 

This past year, as an outgrowth of a new, Center-funded curator-in-residence program, Mural Arts began working with contemporary art curators for the first time in its history. As part of the Restored Spaces initiative, Boston-based guest curator Lucia Sanroman has invited Cohabitation Strategies (CohStra), an innovative European urban design and performance group, to work with Mural Arts on a community-driven project. CohStra members will take up residence in Philadelphia and, following a period of research and "data-mapping" of various local neighborhoods, will stage "cultural interventions" such as pop-up markets or staged public performances. These interventions will be intended to galvanize and empower community members to work collaboratively with Mural Arts staff on future community art projects. Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge will conclude with a daylong symposium and publication.


*Additional unrestricted funds are added to each grant for general operating support.*
uestions of ractice
Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge Neighborhood Convening, June 29, 2015. 632 Jackson Street. Photo by Steve Weinik. Courtesy of the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.
Interview

Questions of Practice: Cohabitation Strategies on the Role of the Arts in Fostering Social Change

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Visiting scholar Kristy Edmunds in conversation with Limor Tomer at The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage on May 28, 2014.
Interview

On Performance Spaces and the Benefits of Failure

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Love Letter by Steve Powers, produced by Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Photo by Zoe Strauss.
Interview

Questions of Practice: Mural Arts' Jane Golden on Seeing Creative Opportunity

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Mifflin Square Alliance Festival in September 2015, part of Mural Art Program’s Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Interview

Questions of Practice: Cohabitation Strategies on Authorship and Community Engagement

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Community members partake in Mifflin Square Alliance Festival in September 2015, part of Mural Art Program’s Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Interview

Questions of Practice: Cohabitation Strategies and Anthony Smyrski on Design in Contemporary Culture

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Recipient
Mural Arts Philadelphia

Mural Arts Philadelphia

Mural Arts Philadelphia (formerly Philadelphia Mural Arts Program) is the largest public art program in the US. Mural Arts engages communities in 50–100 public art projects each year and maintains its growing collection through a restoration initiative. Its core program areas—including art education, community murals, and environmental justice—yield unique, project-based learning opportunities for thousands of youth and adults.

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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
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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