Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge Neighborhood Convening - Mural Arts Philadelphia Mural Arts Philadelphia

Exploring questions of cooperation, civic engagement, and gentrification

Join South Philadelphia neighborhood stakeholders and community members, local and international activists, planners, curators, artists, and politicians, for a working convening to explore questions of cooperation, civic engagement, and gentrification.

Click here to view the full schedule.

Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge is an action-research project by Cohabitation Strategies (CohStra) and Mural Arts Philadelphia. Begun in October 2014, Playgrounds investigates the social, economic, and political conditions inherent to South Philadelphia that make it a uniquely diverse community in a process of rapid gentrification and a potential site for collaborative artistic production and urban transformation.

The convening will begin with an in-depth presentation of CohStra’s research report, followed by round tables with local and international practitioners, combining their expertise to facilitate new imaginings of solutions to enduring problems.

Speakers and participants include: Lucia Babina, Kirtrina Baxter, Christi Clark, Cynthia F. Figueroa, Emiliano Gandolfi, Jane Golden, Sovannary Heang, Shari Hersh, Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, Leela Kuikel, Beth McConnell, Leah Murphy, Thoai Nguyen, Pepón Osorio, Marjetica Potrč, Gabriela Rendón, Damon Rich, Miguel Robles-Durán, Carlos Pascual Sanchez, Lucía Sanromán, Daniel Tucker, Beth Uzwiak, Shira Walinsky, and Rebecca Wanner.

Major support for Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Support for the convening was provided by The Kresge Foundation. The Environmental Justice Initiative is made possible by visionary support from the PTS Foundation. Additional support to Environmental Justice is provided by the City of Philadelphia Department of Human Services, FAO Schwarz Family Foundation, Fondation d’entreprise Hermés, and Surdna Foundation. Project partner: LandHealth Institute. Media partner: Next City.