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
  • 5U Space
  • All Mutable
  • The Arts League
  • Asian Arts Initiative
  • AUTOMAT Collective
  • Batikh Batikh
  • Bearded Ladies
  • 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
  • Fable Encounters
  • 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

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

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Living Archive

Luster Gallery + Studio

August 13 — October 24, 2026

Living Archive
Exhibition Dates: August 13 – October 24, 2026

Archives are often understood as places where history is stored, preserved, and protected. Yet for many families and communities, history lives beyond official records, in stories passed down through generations, in photographs tucked into albums, in heirlooms, rituals, memories, and the body itself. Living Archive brings together the work of Khari Turner, Brittany Baum, Chelsey Luster, DeJeonge Reese, and Angelique Scott to explore ancestry as an active, evolving force that shapes identity, belonging, and our understanding of the present.

Their works engage family narratives, cultural inheritance, memory, and the traces left by those who came before us. Together, they reveal how archives exist not only in institutions but also within our homes, communities, and bodies. The exhibition honors the resilience of Black histories while reflecting on the complexities of lineage, loss, migration, and transformation.

At a moment when histories are frequently contested, erased, or overlooked, Living Archive asks what it means to preserve memory and who is responsible for carrying it forward. Together, these artists create spaces where remembrance becomes a

Programming:

  • Second Thursday receptions from 6:00–9:00 PM throughout the duration of the exhibition
  • Building Sustainable Relationships as an Artist workshop on October 24, 2026, from 12:00–2:00 PM as part of the Parallel Play Symposium

About Luster Gallery + Studio

Luster Gallery + Studio was established in 2025 by visual artist and curator, Chelsey Luster. Our gallery is a community-centered space in Philadelphia dedicated to uplifting underrepresented voices in contemporary art, especially Black, queer, and womxn artists. Through thoughtful exhibitions, intimate gatherings, and collaborative programming, we create space for connection, experimentation and self expression.
​We are located in the Crane Arts building on the first floor at 1400 N. American Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122.

Luster Gallery + Studio
Crane Arts Building
1400 N. American Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122