Conjuring Joy at the Bride

Photo: Very Good Dance Theatre, photographed by Christopher Sonny Martinez

Stand in your purpose. Step into joy.

Conjuring Joy at the Bride is our new artist-in-residence program to nurture the arts in West Philadelphia. Four local artists will have two months of rehearsal space, artistic development, and a stipend to build community both with their cohort and with our West Philadelphia neighbors.

Conjuring Joy at the Bride residents will host public shows and workshops from July–September 2024. The full events calendar is linked here. There will also be a culminating dance party in September! Stay tuned for event announcements through our newsletter and social media.

MEET THE ARTISTS

Please click through each artists’ page for more info and individual event tickets. The FULL residency events calendar is linked here.

• Matthew Armstead, “Thriving Together” (theater, music, and social justice) – on embodying anger and rooting in our resilience as we move through the 2024 election season. Includes two free embodied theater workshops.
• Cassidy Arrington, “Naming Ceremony” (photography, poetry, and queer identity) – on noticing and excavating the queer self from the physical body. Includes three free events open to all, but particularly for West Philly QTPOC: a body positivity art fair, a QTPOC film screening, and a open gallery/performance.
• Colby Calhoun/Very Good Dance Theatre, “TENANTS/TENETS: PLAYGROUND RULEZ” (dance, theater, and afro-futurism) – a movement workshop series of dance theatre games that allow us to (re)learn the skills it takes to work better with one another. Includes four free events: three dance theatre workshops and one interactive performance.
• Francesca Montanile Lyons, “1001 Unread Messages” (theater, visual art, and digital intimacy) – on tenderness and connection, through the lens of our text messages and other digital artifacts. Includes an open gallery and two free open art-making workshops.