Danny Simmons is a published author, poet, painter and philanthropist. He is a leader in the art world with his philanthropic ventures, artistic talents and creative mind and drive.

Danny Simmons played an instrumental role in the conceiving of and co-producing the hit HBO show Def Poetry Jam, and won a Tony Award for the Broadway version of the show.

Simmons is co-founder, along with his siblings, Russell, and Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons, of the Rush Philanthropic ArtsFoundation, and founder of Rush Arts Philadelphia and RAPGallery II, a new solo exhibition/arts education gallery that opened in 2019. He is a former board member of the BrooklynMuseum, the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Conference of Artists and formerChairman for the NYS Council on the Arts.

Today, his works appear in Brooklyn Academy of Music, BrooklynMuseum, Chase Manhattan Bank, Deutsche Bank, Schomburg Center for Black Culture, The Smithsonian, United Nations, UnitedStates State Department Collection, David Driskell Collection, Petrucci Family Foundation, PAFA Collection, and, on an international scope has shown work in France, Amsterdam andGhana. In 2019, he was appointed to Philadelphia Museum ofArt’s African American Collections Committee.

Danny Simmons holds a Bachelor’s degree in social work fromNew York University, a Masters in public finance from Long IslandUniversity, and is the recipient of an honorary PhD from LongIsland University. He continues to thrive at his ‘home gallery’ inPhiladelphia, PA.