Celebrating culture, creativity, and community voices
About Barnes West
Serving West Philadelphia since 2018, Barnes West is designed to enrich lives and communities through shared art experiences and access. Building upon our community engagement work and HopePHL’s (formerly People’s Emergency Center) LoLa 38 creative-placemaking initiative, Barnes West presents multifaceted arts programming to connect West Philly residents with art in their own neighborhoods. This collaboration brings artists, residents, and business owners together in celebrating culture, creativity, and community voice—promoting lifelong appreciation of, and participation in, the arts and cultural life of our city.
2024 Everyday Places Artist Partnerships
Everyday Places Artist Partnerships highlight the intersection of art and community and create spaces where residents can participate in art experiences in their neighborhood. In 2024, social impact artists partnered with “everyday” places in West Philadelphia—including local businesses and community organizations—to create interactive projects that engaged with the spaces and their neighbors. Check back this fall to see who is coming to your West Philly neighborhood!
Irene Osorio at Dyke+ ArtHaus
Sewing Our Stories
Irene Osorio (she/her) led a series of sustainability-focused mending workshops at Dyke+ ArtHaus, a community-driven, feminist home for queer and lesbian artists of West Philadelphia. Osorio’s workshops gave neighbors and residents opportunities to drop in to repair, mend, or upcycle clothing, fabrics, and other items.
Qiaira Riley & Yannick Lowery at The Arts League
Shaking the Table
Multidisciplinary artists Qiaira Riley (she/her) and Yannick Lowery (he/him) worked as an artist collective to lead a series of interdisciplinary workshops and host community meals at The Arts League. Titled “Shaking the Table,” the series explored the collective and personal relationships people have with Black ephemera and popular culture through art making, food, and a film screening.
Lori Waselchuk at Writers Room
Them That Do
Photographer and educator Lori Waselchuk (she/her) partnered with Drexel’s Writers Room to organize and facilitate community photography workshops and a photo walk that highlighted neighborhood leaders, amplified local knowledge, and documented community-building. She collaborated with community organizers and a hyperlocal mutual-aid project to capture and share current happenings in West Philly.
Everyday Places Artist Partnerships in the News
- “West Philly Voices Are Being Amplified through Barnes Partnership” —Philadelphia Tribune
- “This New Arts Initiative Is Welcoming West Philly to Write a Poem Together” —Philadelphia Inquirer
- "A Celebration of Philadelphia’s Diverse Creativity” —Al Día
Watch
Learn more about Everyday Places Artist Partnerships:
2023 Everyday Places Artists:
Elicia Epstein collaborated with West Philly residents on archival research, a community bike ride, and a zine at Neighborhood Bike Works.
Isaiah Reese taught flower arrangement and botanical workshops at the Silk Tent and Ultra Silk Gallery.
Meghan Tranauskas hosted ceramics workshops on vessel making at Dyke+ ArtHaus.
Pili X led a series of photo walks focusing on historical and contemporary documentation of West Philly in partnership with Get Fresh Daily’s Freedom Greens + Gardens.
Sponsors
Barnes West is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, PECO, and Spark Therapeutics, Inc. Lead support for community engagement and family programs at the Barnes is provided through the Comcast Center for Community Engagement at the Barnes. Generous endowment support for community engagement programs is provided by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), and additional annual support for these programs comes from generous individual, corporate, and foundation donors.
Barnes West
Since 2018, Barnes West has presented multifaceted arts programming in West Philly, bringing artists, residents, and business owners together to celebrate culture, creativity, and community voice.
