Throughout 2023, our Cultural Properties project is exploring shared ideas of home and community. Philadelphians are gathering untold stories from their neighborhoods to create new, interdisciplinary public artworks.

Cultural Properties highlights local folklore and neighborhood histories as key to civic engagement and empowerment in an age of changing landscapes, gentrification, and so-called urban renewal.

Check out our work online, at our Manayunk studio, and around the city as we share art and ideas on how to make it better!™

COSACOSA Workshop Programs 2023
Please call or email for specific dates and times to volunteer!

Art & Civic Engagement
Cultural Properties community history workshops citywide, ongoing
Past Forward archival project, digitizing 30 years of COSACOSA initiatives, ongoing

Art & Health
Healing and Unity Gardens seasonal Art & Health events, ongoing
Workshops at local pediatric healthcare centers, ongoing
Communities of Care family-friendly workshops with the Nicetown-Tioga Improvement Team, April-October

Art & Education
Neighborhood Icons mural and civics project at Vare-Washington School in South Philly, February-June
Growing United painting and literacy project at McClure School in North Philly, April-May
Coquí for Me
painting and history project at Muñoz-Marín School in North Philly, April-May
What Connects Us? literacy learning book distribution to city schools, Septemer-December

Art & Youth Development
Kin/Folk/Lore storytelling collection, audio recordings, and listening events, ongoing

multimedia design at our Manayunk studio, ongoing
publication design at our Manayunk studio,
ongoing
COSACOSA Public Events and Exhibitions 2023
Click here, join our email list, or follow us on Facebook for details on current and upcoming presentations!

Monday, January 16, 12 noon to 4 p.m. -
Martin Luther King Day of Sevice school supply drive and open studio at the COSACOSA workshop in Manayunk

Thursday, February 23, 10 a.m. to 12 noon -
Neighborhood Icons open studio South Philly's Vare-Washington School – intercultural, intercommunity art-making for Philadelphia schools

Tuesday, March 21, 1 to 3 p.m. - Spring Forward North Philly Gardens seasonal opening – family-friendly spring cleaning, planting, and art-making in our Healing and Unity Gardens

Friday, April 28, 4 to 6 p.m. - Global Youth Service Day youth-led art-making and community planning at the Williams Moore Reed Memorial Park in North Philadelphia with the Nicetown-Tioga Improvement Team

Friday, May 19, 12 noon to 1 p.m. -
Growing United mural unveiling at North Philly's McClure School - an intercommunity celebration of new public art for Philadelphia schools

Friday, June 2, 12 noon to 1 p.m. - Coquí for Me mural unveiling at North Philly's Muñoz-Marín School - an intercommunity celebration of new public art for Philadelphia schools

Monday, September 11, 4 to 6 p.m. - Cultural Properties family-friendly planting, art-making and story-sharing at our Healing Garden in North Philadelphia

Tuesday, October 31, 4 to 6:00 p.m. -
Harvest Fest family-friendly mask-making and autumn masquerade at the Williams Moore Reed Memorial Park in North Philadelphia with the Nicetown-Tioga Improvement Team

Tuesday, November 21, 5 to 7 p.m. - Coming Home, Giving Thanks harvest celebration and end of season reclamation in our North Philadelphia Healing & Unity Gardens, followed by a community meal

Friday, December 15, 7 p.m. -
Cultural Properties exhibition and story-sharing event at the COSACOSA workshop in Manayunk – a community benefit and project celebration


Images from top: Healing, Hope, and Unity poem at COSACOSA's North Philadelphia Healing Garden, Youth Council community interviews, Healing Art Project mosaic-making, Peace Corner photograph by COSACOSA youth