America Unfinished: Delbert Anderson
America Unfinished Jazz Penn Live Arts Commission World Premieres
Delbert Anderson is a featured artist in our 25/26 season, America Unfinished, marking our country’s 250th anniversary. On April 26, Anderson and his quartet will perform the world premiere commissioned work Beyond Belief, a multi-part meditation on Navajo history and the tribe’s broken relationship with America. We invited Anderson to reflect and share his thoughts on his work and this pivotal moment in our country’s legacy: Read more...
The unparalleled Paul Taylor Dance Company returns with two masterpieces
Dance
“Each dance is a new beginning, a new place to discover”
Paul Taylor
With a 64-year career and 147 works, Paul Taylor (1930–2018) left an ineffable mark on American modern dance. His choreography, which reflects his deep roots as an artist, innovator and provocateur, is known for its overarching architectural structure, musicality and for tackling thorny issues. Read more...
The Final Year of a Powerful Residency
Accelerator Program Dance World Premieres
The world premiere of
Losing My Religion marked the last commission in Rennie Harris’
three-year artist residency. As befits his deep roots in Philadelphia, the residency’s final season engaged people across the city, from older dancers who remember Harris’ first impromptu performances to youth just beginning to make connections between the work of professional artists and their own creative energies.
Read more...The Power of the Right Internship
Sylvia Erdely (C ’27) and Chenyao Liu (C ’27) joined us at a recent board meeting to give insights into their internship experiences. Both students were supported by our
Arts & Entertainment Career Connections program, which offers stipend-supported summer internships with companies across the arts industries, and we are overjoyed that they had such positive, transformational experiences.
Read more...A Seat for Bob: Honoring the Legacy of Robert “Bob” Blake, C’72
The performing arts are about more than what happens on stage. They are about the communities that form around creativity, collaboration and shared experience. Recently, that spirit has been reflected in a special tribute campaign honoring Robert “Bob” Blake, C’72.
The tribute began with a heartfelt idea from Bob’s friends — Doris Cochran-Fikes, CW’72, and Denis Elton Cochran-Fikes, C’74, WG’79 — who wanted to find a meaningful way to celebrate his life and the impact he had on so many people. Read more...
Summer Internships in Philadelphia
Our
Arts & Entertainment Career Connections program and
CURF’s Summer Humanities Internship Program are two campus resources that provide paid summer internship opportunities in the arts, culture and entertainment fields to Penn students. Many internships are in Los Angeles, New York or other entertainment meccas, but some students chose to stay local in Philadelphia. I talked over Zoom with four students who received support from these programs to learn more about their experiences.
Read more...The Evocative Compagnie Virginie Brunelle Makes its Philadelphia Debut with Fables
Dance Penn Live Arts Debuts Philadelphia Debuts U.S. Premiere
Our dance audiences have often been wowed by the passionate, ingenious performances by some of Montréal’s most celebrated companies such as Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Ballets Jazz Montréal, Compagnie Marie Chouinard and RUBBERBAND. Compagnie Virginie Brunelle, founded in 2009, is also part of Montréal’s rich dance legacy known worldwide for producing original and innovative artists.
Read more...Happy holidays
Holiday
Happy holidays from all of us at Penn Live Arts. Wishing you peace and joy this holiday season and throughout the New Year.
Fall 2025 Highlights
Accelerator Program America Unfinished Dance Jazz ListenHear Music Penn Live Arts Commission Philadelphia Premieres Theatre World Premieres
Thank you for joining us for a wonderful start to our 25/26 season: America Unfinished. As we head into the new year, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on some of the highlights from the past few months. Between outstanding artists making their Philadelphia debut, new works taking the stage, impactful engagement with audiences and construction progress on our new venues, it’s already been such a rewarding season. Read more...
The New Platt Student Performing Arts Center: Meeting the Demand for Creativity and Community
The opening of our
Platt Student Performing Arts Center represents a significant advancement for the University of Pennsylvania and the cultural landscape of Philadelphia. As one of the first theatres constructed in the city in more than a decade, and the first new venue at Penn in over fifty years, the Platt Center is a direct response to the university’s longstanding need for dedicated performing arts spaces. For years, the demand for performance and rehearsal venues has far exceeded available resources, reflecting the remarkable growth and passion within Penn’s student arts community.
Read more...
