Philadelphia
by Design
The city once dubbed
“workshop of the world” has
evolved into a hotbed of
contemporary design
DesignPhiladelphia, an annual festival celebrating the thriving local design community,
is back for its sixth year with a brand-new
sponsor: University of the Arts. Oct. 6–12,
a mix of students, professionals and design
champions presents about 150 events and
exhibitions in Philadelphia’s galleries, museums, shops and public spaces, centered on the
broad theme of design.
Executive Director Hilary Jay, who founded
the event and has grown it to be the largest
design festival in the country, emphasizes
another important player: the “innocent”
bystander pulled into experiential happenings
around the city. Consider, for instance, the
person waiting in a subterranean corridor for
his subway car to arrive. During this week in
ave
Date
KENNET T SQUARE, PA
the
Mushroom
Festival
Sept. 10–12
Come celebrate
the 25th anniversary
of the event that
commemorates
everyone’s favorite
fungus. The festivities
take place in Southern
Chester County, aka
“The Mushroom
Capital of the World.”
mushroomfestival.org
FAIRMOUNT
Terror Behind
the Walls
Sept. 17–Nov. 6
Why do people wait for
hours to get into the
Eastern State Penitentiary’s haunted house?
Begin to imagine the
terrifying potential of
an 11-acre abandoned
prison at night and
you’ll understand.
215-236-2985;
easternstate.org
CITY GUIDE
Philadelphia
October, he’ll encounter the site-specific video
installation created for Center City’s subways
by Klip Collective, a Philadelphia outfit whose
bread and butter is design for high-end restaurants and hotels such as the W chain.
“Design needs to be experienced,” says Jay.
“It can’t just hang on a wall and be design—
not in my book. It needs that element of
functionality.”
More perspectives on the definition of
design are offered during the Dialogues on
Design lecture series. Last year’s speakers
mused on everything from bra straps to chairs.
Other highlights include an eco-fashion show;
pop-up shops peddling Philly-made and
-distributed designs; and the Design Lot,
a parking lot on Broad Street turned into a
design-forward lounge by students working
toward MFAs in museum exhibition, planning
and design from UArts. designphiladelphia.org.
Every fall the city
explodes with hun-
dreds of live per-
formances staged
in venues ranging
from the smallest
bars to major the-
aters. Sept. 3–18,
two festivals dance
cheek to cheek: the
Philadelphia Live
Arts Festival, with
Our Stages
Runneth Over
acts selected by
producing direc-
tor Nick Stuccio;
and its partner,
the Fringe Festival,
which welcomes all
acts without impos-
ing the obstacle
of a selection pro-
cess. This year
the Live Arts head-
liner is Dance, the
renowned 1979 col-
laboration between
choreographer
Lucinda Childs,
composer Philip
Glass and artist Sol
Le Witt. The piece
will be remounted
by Childs and per-
formed against
the backdrop of
Le Witt’s original
film projected onto
a giant screen that
stretches across
the stage of the
Kimmel Center’s
Perelman Theater.
livearts-fringe.org.
AVENUE OF THE ARTS
Macbeth
Sept. 29–Nov. 7
A theater known for
staging contemporary
playwrights takes on the
Bard with a reimagining
featuring original music
and choreography.
Wilma Theater.
215-546-7824;
wilmatheater.org
KELLY DRIVE
Philadelphia
Dragon Boat
Festival
Oct. 2
This annual dramatic,
colorful regatta of boats
festooned in dragon
heads and tails takes
place amid much mer-
riment, live music and
picnicking along the
river. philadragonboat
festival.com
GAYBORHOOD
OutFest
Oct. 10
The annual “block
party” that is part of
the National Coming
Out Day festival actu-
ally takes place over
multiple blocks in Phila-
delphia, where it’s been
celebrated for years with
exuberance and gusto.
phillypride.org
