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City of Philadelphia
Transcending movement with Philadanco!
In a live virtual performance, principal dancers from Philadanco! performed “Oshun” before sitting down to a conversation on dancing, choreography, and choice.
Penn Museum interns explore jazz through family, protest, and creativity
Penn Museum interns delve into “The Year of Jazz” through a monthly series of events exploring family, protest, and creativity. Music Professor Guthrie Ramsey and his singer/songwriter daughter Bridget Ramsey headline the first event on Feb. 28.
Historic preservation of Black Philadelphia
Preserving Black history in Philadelphia is an evolving dynamic of the city’s legacy.
The joy and power of improvisation
With The Unscripted Project, President’s Engagement Prize winners Philip Chen and Meera Menon create an improv curriculum and bring teaching artists to Philadelphia public school students.
New Projects for Progress prize designed to promote equity and inclusion
Applications are now open for a new University initiative, Projects for Progress, which will award prizes of as much as $100,000 to support proposals by teams of students, faculty, and staff designed to promote equity and inclusion and make a direct impact in Philadelphia.
America’s first fossil fuel state
History course looks at Pennsylvania’s role in helping fossil fuel power the making of the modern world.
Engaging in the election
In a collaborative English course taught by Lorene Cary in the fall, students shared their experiences with civic engagement by writing for publication, partnering with nonprofits like Vote That Jawn to share non-partisan information with other young first-time voters.
Pew Center for Arts & Heritage awards 2020 grants to Penn projects
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage announced 41 grants totaling $10.5 million in support of the Institute for Contemporary Art and Stuart Weitzman School of Design, and a Girard College project involving theater director Brooke O’Harra and music composer Tyshawn Sorey.
Looking at the past through the historic present
Sophomore Megan Chui expected her internship at the National Constitution Center to give her insights into how the past plays into the present. The summer of social unrest and the pandemic added a contemporary component to the job.
‘Motivated to vote’
Co-directors Eva Gonzalez and Harrison Feinman of Penn Leads the Vote push for 100% student voter registration in the Year of Civic Engagement.
In the News
How did a white woman come to write the newest definitive text on Philadelphia’s Black history?
Penn alum Amy Jane Cohen is profiled for her new book “Black History in the Philadelphia Landscape,” which examines Black history through the lens of events, institutions, and individuals across the city. The book includes a reflection from Penn chaplain Charles Howard.
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Comcast’s Sports Complex plan for South Philly would make our city less livable
In an Op-Ed, Vukan R. Vuchic of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that Philadelphia should make transit more accessible rather than striving to accommodate more cars.
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Mayor Parker’s plan to ‘remove the presence of drug users’ from Kensington raises new questions
Shoshana Aronowitz of the School of Nursing and Ashish Thakrar of the Perelman School of Medicine comment on the lack of specificity in Philadelphia’s plan to remove drug users from Kensington and on the current state of drug treatment in the city.
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Philadelphia’s Market Street East searches for growth and renewal — with or without a new Sixers arena
Akira Drake Rodriguez, Rashida Ng, and Dominic Vitiello of the Weitzman School of Design say there should be a more robust and inclusive conversation about the future of Philadelphia’s Market Street East.
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Act 135 nonprofits bust blight. Vulnerable owners pay the price
A Penn Carey Law analysis found that Act 135 petitions in Philadelphia have disproportionately been filed against Black and Asian property owners.
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A burial for 19 Black Philadelphians, 200 years in the making
Penn Museum Director Christopher Woods says that the interment of 19 Black Philadelphians at Eden Cemetery represents a reckoning with the Museum’s colonial past and an act of reconciliation with the local community.
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