A new kind of citywide, a gift idea or two, and what we can learn from libraries

Y'all. What a roller coaster trip of a time to be alive. Hope you are holding on to the safety bar and have some buddies with you.

I'll be supporting artist Leslie Cuyjet with an upcoming presentation at BAM, December 3-7. If you're in New York, find me in the lobby beforehand and say hello! For All Your Life explores how monetary value is attached to human life through the insurance business, Black life in particular, and all the twisty roads that can lead to. Would love to see you there.

What arts institutions can learn from libraries

Arts adminstrator Emily Marks has written this beautiful, concise, insightful piece about how libraries have shaped her thinking as an arts administrator and if you're in the field, I think you should take four minutes of your day to hop over to the link and read the whole thing. I can't even choose a favorite from the six points she highlights in her piece because they are all so right on, but this idea sings loudly for me: "Librarianship affirmed for me that power can be collective, not concentrated." I also appreciate that this gentle critique of the arts field comes from a place of looking at strengths to admire and borrow from another field, rather than only calling out what we're lacking over here.

• Access Is a Foundation, Not a Program
• Young People’s Programs Are Infrastructure, Not Extras
• High Art vs. Low Art Does Not Exist.
• Stewardship Over Ownership
• Systems Work in Partnership with Stories
• Librarians Are Community Strategists and Live in Their Values

I know I'll be thinking about this piece and coming back to it again.

And I'm still re-visiting Artists On Creative Administration: A Workbook from the National Center for Choreography, edited by Tonya Lockyer, as needed. I wrote a review for the academic journal Dance Chronicle; gift link so you can read it for free if you like!

Philadelphia arts rebrands that aren’t terrible

There's been lots of justifiable chatter about the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) rebrand to PhAM (Philadelphia Art Museum) and the subsequent firing of Executive Director Sasha Suda; is the firing related to the rebrand? Unclear! Can we go back to calling it the PMA now?* Hyperallergic has had some good coverage but the most useful commentary I’ve seen is in the Philadelphia Citizen calling for greater accountability and transparency from boards in this city, where the non-profit sector is nearly a third of the economy, and names the UArts closure as the "national embarrassment" it was. Yes!

In the meantime, there have been some happy developments in the Philadelphia arts marketing landscape.

Alex Tatarsky has a new website. I love it as much as I love Alex’s work, which is to say, five metric tonnes of love. Designed by fellow brilliant artist Dara of Creative Structures, the website has this '90s internet aesthetic that I am a total sucker for and gets across some of the wonderful weirdness of seeing a live Tatarsky performance. 

thINKingDANCE has a new website too. Not quite as much personality as the above, but I think it's more readable than the previous version of tD's site and has some nice features, like a section that looks at past articles. A great one-stop shop for getting caught up on the Philly dance scene.

And also technically not a rebrand, but a re-packaging kind of marketing initiative, the Citywide James Ijames package is a partnership between Arden Theatre Company, Wilma Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Company, and the Philadelphia Visitor Center, hailing the extraordinary Philly playwright. Each of the theaters is presenting an Ijames play in spring 2026; you can buy one pass to see them all, plus you get merch! My heart is warmed to see this kind of cross-organizational partnership and coordination and it's lovely to see a local artist celebrated in this highly visible way. Saquon Barkley deserves a t-shirt and our lauded playwright deserves a beanie.

Gift season 🎁🎁🎁

Why not give a gift that supports an independent Philadelphia artist and doesn't take up room in your house all at the same time? These cookies can live in your belly, or in the bellies of your friends or family. Donna Oblongata is releasing her All Cookies Are Beautiful collection, "a special fundraiser and art project for this holiday season." You can support Donna and the Deep End Studios by purchasing 6 or 12 hand-decorated cookies, available for pick-up in South or West Philly, or shipped anywhere you like. Quite irresistible for a cookie monster like myself. Orders close in two weeks, on December 1.

Sisterly Affection (a bit of Philadelphia appreciation)

Usually I stop to admire window kitties, but this morning I spotted a relatively rare roof kitty, who was staying perfectly still and making an exquisite cat silhouette while he watched me. Hello, beautiful!

If you are new here, welcome! You can find a bit more context on the 'about' page and feel free to forward along to anyone who might be interested. There is usually a loose focus on Philadelphia and dance/performance-related news bits. Each email ends with a moment of Sisterly Affection, as seen and appreciated while out and about in Philly.

*I do like the griffin!