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

Milford Graves: A Mind-Body Deal

Ars Nova Workshop
Milford Graves, Beyond Polymath, sculpture detail. Photo courtesy of Ars Nova Workshop.
Milford Graves, Beyond Polymath, sculpture detail. Photo courtesy of Ars Nova Workshop.
Ars Nova Workshop, "Beyond Polymath," sculpture. Photo courtesy of Ars Nova Workshop.
Ars Nova Workshop, "Beyond Polymath," sculpture. Photo courtesy of Ars Nova Workshop.
Ars Nova Workshop, Milford Graves’ hand painted drum kit. Photo courtesy of Ars Nova Workshop.
Ars Nova Workshop, Milford Graves’ hand painted drum kit. Photo courtesy of Ars Nova Workshop.
Ars Nova Workshop, flyer for Milford Graves’ “Bio Creative Institute of Intuitive Development.” Photo courtesy of Ars Nova Workshop.
Ars Nova Workshop, flyer for Milford Graves’ “Bio Creative Institute of Intuitive Development.” Photo courtesy of Ars Nova Workshop.

Ars Nova Workshop’s exhibition Milford Graves: A Mind-Body Deal will shed light on a lifetime of multidisciplinary creative work from one of the icons of the free jazz movement. A polymath who works in music, visual arts, botany, and science, Graves is best known as a drummer who has recorded with artists such as Albert Ayler, Sonny Sharrock, John Zorn, and Don Pullen. An installation at the Institute of Contemporary Art will explore his practice far beyond his musical work to include his many other creative interests, including herbology, martial arts, and holistic medicine, and how rhythm connects all of it. The exhibition will include a collection of Graves’ hand-painted album covers and posters, idiosyncratic drum sets, sculptural work, photographs, recording ephemera, archival recordings, and more. A catalogue will offer new essays and a view into the artist’s previously unseen archive

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

uestions of ractice
Milford Graves, Milford Graves: A Mind-Body Deal, 2020, installation view, presented by Ars Nova Workshop, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Photo by Constance Mensh.
Interview

ICA Director Zoë Ryan on Museum Pandemic Pivots and Strengthening Community

Read More
Recipient
Ars Nova Workshop

Ars Nova Workshop

Ars Nova Workshop (ANW) is an award-winning presenter that elevates the profile and expands the boundaries of jazz and contemporary music. Winner of the ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and Philadelphia Magazine’s “Best of Philly” award, ANW is an internationally recognized jazz, experimental, and new classical music presenter.

More info
News

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Announces 2018 Grants for Philadelphia Artists, Organizations

Jun 18, 2018
Explore Connections
Nels Cline in performance at Royce Hall, Los Angeles. Photo by Phinn Sriployrung.

Guitarist Nels Cline on Musical Lineage
Video Tradition & Translation
Walking with Trane, Urban Bush Women. Photo by Gennia Cui.
Questions of Practice: Choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar on Art and Social Justice
Video Social & Community-Based Practices
Sonia Sanchez. Photo by Erika Vonie.
Celebrating Poet Sonia Sanchez, plus Pew Fellows Earn Guggenheim Fellowships, Peabody Award, and More
Sonya Clark, The Descendants of Monticello, 2024, part of Declaration House, Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, PA. Photo by Steve Weinik, courtesy of Monument Lab.
Fall Arts Preview: From the Personal to the Historic, 17 Events to Add to Your Calendar
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
Side-by-side portraits of Sumi Tonooka and Phillip B. Williams.

Fellow to Fellow: Sumi Tonooka and Phillip B. Williams on Expanding Their Artistic Identities 
Interview Practice & Process
Sinta Penyami Storms, 2022 Philadelphia's Cultural Treasures fellow.
Four Philadelphia’s Cultural Treasures Fellows on Care and Community Impact
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