Freddy's West Philadelphia

Freddy Williams often references imagery and history of West Philadelphia as subject matter for his artwork. He and his friends created a wheatpasted collage on wood panel to depict life in this section of our city.

Happy Thanksgiving from Cultural Arts

Richard drew this magical turkey, pilgrim, and ship.

Photos by Christina S.

Christina S. has recently begun exploring digital photography. Here are some pictures she took earlier this afternoon:


Our lovely director, Linda Price


Self-portrait with Mike G.


Dwayne Boone


Still life, plastic plants


David, Richard, and Shawn

translucent art

This past week, one of our projects was to use discarded cd cases and cut-up sheets of light gels to explore color composition and create stained-glass style panels.





Shawn and Richard did most of them.

Shawn & Dracula down by the school yard

To welcome the month of October, we build a scarecrow of Dracula out of scrap wood & fabric.

improv web

Earlier this week, Mike G. facilitated the building of an improvisational weaving board. Helen, Marcos, Freddy, and Richard used a power drill to help install the screws used as axis points in our autonomous yarn-weaving "improv spider web."

More Photos from "House of Dreams"

Our director Jerry Perna with Mike S., Laura, and Linda before the performance


Tom and usher Rasheed


Richard chases Keith as a muskrat.


David emerges from a giant egg as a baby dinosaur.


Richard leads the audience in a game of "Simon Says."


Taking a bow


Ashley and her friend after the performance

These photos from the debut of House of Dreams were taken by Bonnie Squires unless otherwise noted.

"House of Dreams" Debut

Our play, House Of Dreams, premiered at The Rotunda in West Philadelphia yesterday to a very supportive and receptive audience.

It encompasses the main goals of the program by showcasing the various creative talents of the individuals within the Cultural Arts program through acting, writing, performance art, choreographed movement, live and recorded music, 2 and 3 dimensional visual art, and multimedia outlets, all under the umbrella of theater.

The project was headed by Jerry Perna, Michael Gerkovich, and Alie Vidich, with the rest of the Cultural Arts staff contributing in a strong way. Linda Price and Gina Renzi facilitated its creation.


Richard contributed a great deal of his creative energy to this project. He played beautiful songs for the audience as the cast took their places backstage.


Mike S. narrates.


Eyes in the dark, at the bottom of the sea


The cast focuses their collective energy to become The Blob


David emerges from a dinosaur egg.

Special thanks to Nofre Vaquer for taking these photographs!

House Of Dreams opens Saturday!

House Of Dreams, the play we've been working on throughout the summer, will be premiering this Saturday, September 25th at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut Street, West Philadelphia) at 1:00pm. We look forward to once again sharing our work with the community.





http://www.therotunda.org/calendar/house-of-dreams/

PDDC Picnic!

There was dancing, games and delicious food to be shared at the annual Arc/PDDC Picnic! The artists of Cultural Arts program designed and printed the t-shirts we wore that day. Special thanks to Shalaine Wallace for organizing this event and Mike Barnes for coordinating the Chestnut Hill College volunteers who helped make the day a success!


Marcos and a volunteer from Chestnut Hill College


Jane and Alison with Swoop


Charles and Kelvin


Asha and Fatima


Sarah and David


Mike S. meets Swoop

Temple Football Practice

Today a group of people from PDDC's programs watched a Temple football team practice. Their quarterback Kee-ayre Griffen has been volunteering in the Cultural Arts Center this month. Many thanks to Temple and to Mike Barnes for making this trip happen!


Rasheed and Chester Stewart


Rasheed and PDDC/Arc intern Tim


Kee-ayre and Murph

building the moon

Fabric collage has become a dominant aesthetic in the set design for our upcoming play, House Of Dreams. It will be performed at The Rotunda on Saturday, September 25th.


Ashley, Yvonne, Mike S., and Sarah hot glue the surface patterns.


Ashley adds fabric cuttings to the endless pile of colors and shapes.