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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An Endless Meeting: Collective Process, Artistic Labor, and the Politics of Working Together – Open Call: Curatorial Residency

Vox Populi

November 8 — December 31, 2025

Curatorial Open Call

“An Endless Meeting” is a multi-pronged project at Vox Populi that activates collective process as subject, form, and method through exhibitions, a curatorial residency, public programs, and a print publication that explore the politics of collectivity, inviting broad publics to reflect on their own experiences of working together.

Vox Populi is an evolving collective of artists dedicated to fostering experimental contemporary art through a non-hierarchical, inclusive, and equitable framework. Since 1988, Vox has served as a critical nexus within the Philadelphia arts ecosystem, presenting exhibitions, public programs, and performances, while remaining responsive to the shifting needs of our community.

🚨 Open Call: Curatorial Residency 2026 — An Endless Meeting 🚨

🗓️ Applications open 11/8/2026 –
📅 Deadline Dec 31, 2025
🔗 Apply via SlideRoom

Vox Populi is now accepting applications for a 2026 Curatorial Residency, part of Vox’s project An Endless Meeting: Collective Process, Artistic Labor, and the Politics of Working Together, featured within the citywide Collective Futures festival!

We’re inviting a curatorial duo — two artists/curators from a DIY space, artist-run initiative, or collective located 50+ miles outside Philadelphia — for a one-month residency (Aug 24–Oct 5, 2026).

Selected curators will collaborate with Vox members and Philly collectives to develop an exhibition opening October 2, 2026. Includes stipend, housing, travel, production support, and access to Vox’s community and resources.

If your work centers collective practice, cross-regional exchange, and the messy joy of collaboration then we want to hear from you!