about
Collective Futures
is a six-week, citywide project activating Philadelphia’s network of artist-run spaces, DIY venues, and community-based initiatives. This collaboratively organized project bringing together more than 30 independent spaces and organizations, Collective Futures will unfold across the city through exhibitions, performances, workshops, and public programs from Kensington and North Chinatown to West Philadelphia, Fishtown, and Old City, between October 2 and November 15, 2026.

At its core, Collective Futures centers collective practice as a vital mode of cultural production. Across disciplines and contexts, the project highlights how artists come together to build shared platforms, experiment with new forms, and sustain creative communities.

Taking place during the 250th anniversary of the so-called United States, while many institutions in Philadelphia conjure programming around the complex histories of nation-building and democracy, Collective Futures highlights the artistic experimentation and alternative models that grassroots cultural spaces have long been building

Collective Futures is grounded in the specific conditions of Philadelphia, where a rich ecosystem of artist-run and DIY spaces has made collaborative cultural production possible. As rising costs and development reshape the city, the project affirms the importance of collective cultural life and the infrastructures that sustain it, so that our work can mobilize resources, deepen connections, and envision transformative futures.

Collective Futures is:

  • 2C Books / Marginal Utility
  • 3rd Street Gallery
  • 5U Space
  • All Mutable
  • The Arts League
  • Asian Arts Initiative
  • AUTOMAT Collective
  • Batikh Batikh
  • The Bearded Ladies Cabaret
  • Big Ramp
  • Biomaterials Working Group
  • BYO Printmaking Collaborative
  • Center for Emerging Visual Artists
  • Cherry St Pier
  • cinéSPEAK
  • City Arts Salon LLC
  • Da Vinci Art Alliance
  • errata projects
  • Facing Bench
  • Fairmount House
  • FJORD
  • Future Flower Collective
  • FORTUNE
  • Gravy Studio
  • Grizzly Grizzly
  • The Halide Project
  • Hall Pass
  • Icebox Project Space
  • Jane Gallery
  • Luster Gallery
  • Memory Workers Guild
  • Muse Gallery
  • Obvious Agency
  • Paradigm Gallery + Studio
  • Peep Projects
  • Pentimenti
  • People’s Music Supply
  • Pink Noise Projects
  • Practice
  • Prism Arts
  • Second State Press
  • Space 1026
  • Teils Studio
  • Termite TV Collective
  • Tiger Strikes Asteroid Philadelphia
  • Ulises
  • Umbria Arts
  • Vox Populi
  • The Wooden Shoe

Collective Futures is made possible with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the PCI Catalyst Grant, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Free People and the Penn Treaty Special Services District (PTSSD).

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Outside the Gate 

Umbria Arts

October 17 — November 15, 2026

UMBRIA ARTS
OUTSIDE THE GATE
OCT 17 — NOV 15, 2026

Outside the Gate brings together artists and organizers working through self-determined practices of making, reality-building, and cultural production. Through an exhibition and public programs, we position independent infrastructure as an ongoing practice of building the spaces and conditions for life beyond institutional frameworks and dominant narratives.

Saturday, October 17
Sculpture, Inside + Out
Opening day celebration featuring work by Mika Taga, Heather Ramsdale, and Brian Bazemore, presented throughout the showroom and lumberyard.

Pleasant Flower Collection Release
Pleasant Flower, by designer Naomi Dale, joins the Umbria Arts showroom with a new collection of upcycled pieces. The release will be accompanied by DJs from Against the Grain and supported by Two Locals Brewing.

Saturday, October 24
Zap Outdoors × Vicarious Love
Zap comes to Philly for a large-scale DIY music festival at Umbria Arts. Set within a historic lumberyard, three stages will feature Baltimore and Philadelphia DJs and live acts spanning electronic, punk, and experimental sounds. Produced in collaboration with Vicarious Love as part of Collective Futures.

Wednesday, November 4
Shungu Live Film Score
A film that moves between New York and Brussels, created with visual artist Flat Spot. Original 16mm footage meets reworked music videos in a conversation between sound and image, with live performances from Washington-based singer Ruqqiyah and London-based artist Wonky Logic. Organized in collaboration with Isaiah Artese. 

Sunday, November 15
Chat Zine Release
A new independently produced publication documenting the perspectives of Philadelphia artists and creatives, created out of cultural necessity. With Gabrielle Woolley and Christopher Vanauken.

Umbria Arts is a new showroom, gathering space, bookstore + reading room (in collaboration with Tomorrow Today), and creative hideaway nestled in the heart of a working lumberyard. Conceived as a place for artists, readers, and neighbors alike, Umbria Arts brings together community, conversation, and curiosity under one roof.

Rooted in Philadelphia’s grit, imagination, and drive to see itself thrive, Umbria reflects the city’s creative spirit. Like Vicarious Love, which has evolved over the past five years, Umbria remains committed to supporting and responding to the ever-changing artistic landscape of this remarkable city.