Proof of Life: Public Engagement Week Starts Now!
A multi-month residency spanning the creative practices of three local, independent artists culminates with a week-long series of live, interactive public engagements with the diverse communities of Philadelphia.
Our Free with RSVP activations offer Philadelphians a chance to experience each project as it exists in motion, still forming, still responsive, and still open to possibility. Each presentation reflects where the work has arrived during its time in residence.
Scheduled line-up:
SAT, MAY 9, 11 AM – 2 PM
YANNICK LOWERY’S Blues of Parkside: A Cyanotype Workshop
WED, MAY 13, 6 PM – 8 PM
YANNICK LOWERY’S Between Matriarchs: A Community Exhibition
FRI, MAY 15, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
TAJ RAUCH’S All Heathens Go to Heaven
SAT, MAY 16, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
TAJ RAUCH’S All Heathens Go to Heaven
SUN, MAY 17, 6 PM – 7:30 PM
ANDRÉS CISNEROS’ Philly Cancionero (Songbook)
Secure your spot today!
Proof of Life Artist Residency centers creation as a visible and evolving process. Rather than presenting finished works alone, Proof of Life invites audiences into the space between concept and completion, where experimentation, revision, and discovery take place.The first phase of this project was dedicated to building each project from the ground up, allowing time for ideas to take shape through practice, iteration, and sustained focus. Since February, artists have been working on-site at Painted Bride Project Space, developing new material through research, rehearsal, and exploration.
For over five decades, Painted Bride has been a space where artists and community meet in real time. Not just to present work, but to develop it, question it, and share it while it is still taking shape.
At Painted Bride Project Space, that legacy continues through Proof of Life. Proof of Life is an intentional practice, shaped by lived experience and real stories worth repeating. This is artist-driven, people-powered work, rooted in presence, exchange, and the belief that creativity belongs in community.
POWER TO THE PROMPT 2026
PROOF OF LIFE
What makes your neighborhood feel most alive? What 3 elements of your community would you preserve for future generations?
(traditions, foods, places, people, rituals). Engage in the conversation about our community!
Running alongside the residency, Power to the Prompt serves as a parallel community engagement initiative connected to the Proof of Life Artist Residency, as well as other events through our 2026 season, like The ThinkPeace (April 11).
As an annual citywide programming theme, it supports courageous conversations across identity differences, including race, belief, and neighborhood. Through the arts and creative thinking, it creates space for authentic connection across Philadelphia, cultivating trust, respect, and deeper understanding.
Rather than shaping the development of the work, Power to the Prompt invites audiences to reflect on the questions each artist is exploring. It offers a lens through which to consider personal perspective while engaging with the creative process as it unfolds.
WHY PROOF OF LIFE
Proof of Life is an acknowledgment of our personal and collective presence, becoming, belonging, and being.
Each work stands as a record of process, of time spent, of ideas pursued, and of the conditions that shaped them. Together, these projects reflect a shared moment of creative inquiry, grounded in the present and open to what comes next.
