“We are delighted to welcome Leah to Penn Live Arts as our new Director of Education and Engagement,” said PLA Executive and Artistic Director Christopher Gruits. “Her broad experience in education, the arts, and communities positions her well to build strong relationships with Penn faculty and Philadelphia teachers and conceptualize innovative programming and partnerships. In particular, we are excited that she will also develop the initial scope and plan for our new student career support initiative.”
“I'm thrilled to be joining the Penn Live Arts team,” said Falk. “I'm looking forward to taking a deep dive into PLA's rich and diverse programming and exploring ways that the Penn and Philadelphia communities can be in conversation with great performance both in and beyond the theatre.”
Falk will oversee PLA's inclusive community outreach, K-12 education, and engagement efforts including the PLA Director's Student Advisory Council, the Student Discovery series of daytime performances for Philadelphia region schoolchildren, the Philadelphia Children's Festival, and all free or low-cost educational events that serve 10,000 Philadelphia area youth annually. In addition to managing current programming she will be responsible for planning and launching PLA’s student career support initiative.
Leah Falk (she/her) is a writer, program administrator, and educator passionate about the power of the arts to engage community creativity. She most recently directed the Rutgers-Camden Writers House, where she built community-engaged literary programming for a wide range of constituents. She has taught writing at Rutgers-Camden, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and the University of Michigan, and was a teaching artist and workshop facilitator for InsideOut Literary Arts and NY Writers Coalition.
The author of two poetry collections, To Look After and Use and Other Customs and Practices, Falk’s work has received support from the Vermont Studio Center, Asylum Arts, the Sundress Academy for the Arts, and the Yiddish Book Center. She served on the board of Emerging Arts Leaders: Philadelphia in 2018-19.
Falk holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the Helen Zell Writers Program at the University of Michigan and a B.A. from Oberlin College. She began her
