Ban the Block Party Ban

The city’s new policy has banned 922 blocks from having parties. Philly 3.0’s engagement director explains how cops have complicated a beautiful process

By Jon Geeting
The Citizen Recommends

Barnes Jawn(t)s

By inviting community activists to serve as docents and make up the stories behind its art, the Barnes is disrupting itself—and connecting to its founder’s anti-elitist philosophy

By Colin Lodewick
Ideas We Should Steal

The Citizens Project

Can increasing civic engagement keep people out of jail and off the streets in Philly as it has in New Haven?

By Jill Harkins
The Citizen Recommends

Social Justice Symposium for Teens

The annual Free Library event, started by librarian Erin Hoopes, returns this weekend with an agenda for change

By Patrick Bilow

All the Right Moves

While other cultural organizations struggle to stay relevant, Christine Cox’s BalletX keeps growing, spreading the joy of dance to more people

By Sarah Jordan

Beyond the Books

Fairhill’s Lillian Marrero library branch brings the poorest Philadelphians services that expand the definition of literacy far beyond the stacks. It’s a model for the future of libraries

By Syra Ortiz-Blanes

The Art of Fair Pay

The ICA is the first museum in the country to pledge fair pay to the artists whose work it shows. Could it be at the vanguard of a movement?

By Sarah Jordan
The Citizen Recommends

QUEST

The North Philly-based documentary airing tonight on PBS marks the beginning of a conversation about inner-city trauma, race, class and politics.

By Jamie Bogert
The Citizen Recommends

We (Too) Are Philly

Philly’s Poet Laureate invites the city of many to celebrate the many in the city

By Raquel Salas Rivera
The Citizen Recommends

Steven Brill at The Free Library

His new book, Tailspin, may be the most important explanation yet of just how we got here

By Larry Platt