Philly’s “hidden gem”
When a Billy Penn editor recently called out us as their favorite “hidden gem” in Philly, I couldn’t stop smiling. It felt like such a nice confirmation of the ambitious work that our staff has been steadily committed to: diligently carving out a niche for unique artists, investigative art, and authentic audience connection. It also perfectly described the Journey Arts dilemma — these performance treasures tend to be genre-bending in ways that are hard to commodify; the richness of the experience comes partly from the intimate nature of small, limited-seating venues; the cultural specificity of the work — which allows community members to feel seen in IJ performances — sometimes means the audience for one IJ show doesn’t obviously morph into the audience for the next IJ show. All of these beautiful, gem-like nuances can make our footprint feel unalterably hidden. But we are committed to inhabiting our niche in the fullest way we can — to supporting more artists, more evocative art, more points of connection. And that means also committing our creative resources to stepping out of our own shadow.
Along that path we have been having lots of conversations about naming and describing the values and commitments that underpin our unique producing framework. Here’s a snapshot:
Share-the-love curation.
Journey Arts works with incredible artists across a spectrum of genres in music, dance, poetry and theater and often finds new collaborators through current artist recommendations.
Curator Ursula Rucker (Close Ups: Scars and Emblems, 2021-22) introduced Journey Arts to soulful singer-songwriter Solomon Temple, who introduced us to Haitian chantè Talie (Nathalie Cerin) who will premiere the NEA-funded MIWA in November 2025 with her sister, filmmaker Lunise Cerin.
Wrap-around artist support.
Journey Arts provides full-circle producing support to magnify artist power from the spark of an idea to a fully-realized performance.
Denice Frohman had an idea for a poetic tribute to a community of undersung Latina lesbian elders. We found money, introduced Denice to co-creator Alex Torra, arranged rehearsal space, managed interview footage, contracted collaborators, booked a venue, and laughed and cried from the front row as Denice premiered ESTO NO TIENE NOMBRE to sold-out audiences in June 2023.
Many ways in.
Journey Arts is committed to an ethos of welcome. This means that we try to open up as many different ways into an art experience as possible — as a community co-creator, as an artist, as an audience member, as an online participant. We strategize full funding for productions in order to underwrite ticket costs. We produce in diverse venues across Philadelphia to be accessible to different audiences.
In May 2024, Madhusmita Bora and Prerona Bhuyan of Sattriya Dance Company curated a 3-night iteration of The Table Sessions at the Trinity Center for Urban Life featuring food specially crafted by Assamese chef Babi Borah. Journey Arts helped them create a full-sensory evening that opened up myriad participant entry points — from an immersive audience experience to artistic collaboration through poetry and food art, and from easy table conversations to in-depth artist/audience discussions.
We hope you’ll come along with us as we continue to shape and define and name this journey. And keep us accountable — how are we doing on these commitments? Have you been introduced to a new artist or had your art-mind expanded to a new corner of the Philly globe at a Journey Arts show? Have you felt welcomed into a Journey Arts experience at whatever threshold you choose to step through?
Let us know how we’re doing as we try to open more doors and windows to let these gem-like performances shine.
With many thanks for the photos from Steve Weinik (Table Sessions), David Evan McDowell (Esto No Tiene Nombre), and kenzi crash (Solomon Temple).
