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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Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (POST)

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists (CFEVA)

Each October, POST activities span twenty unique Philadelphia neighborhoods and highlight the creative workspaces of hundreds of artists and community partners. Great for all ages, POST provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse of visual artists at work through an approachable, self-guided, and easy-to-navigate tour. Ancillary activities include featured exhibitions, demonstrations and workshops, artist talks, receptions, guided tours, and more! No other program in or around Philadelphia consistently brings such an intimate and diverse cultural experience to the community free of charge and across such a large geographic area.

POST West of Broad Street: October 10 and 11
POST East of Broad Street: October 17 and 18
Noon-6 PM each day

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists (CFEVA) was founded in 1983 as the Creative Artist Network by Felicity Roosevelt “Bebe” Benoliel to foster more equitable and sustainable artistic practices for emerging visual artists. Today, CFEVA’s programming serves more than 400,000 artists and audience members annually, including an extensive network of more than 1,500 visual artists. Now entering our fifth decade, we are committed to providing impactful programs to support, equip, and position visual artists as the creative engines that forge Philadelphia’s vibrant cultural identity.