Two 2025 project grants and a fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
WXPN and the Institute for Contemporary Art each received creative project grants and filmmaker Sosena Solomon, who teaches in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies, was named a 2025 Pew Fellow.
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“White Ouroboros II” by Allison Janae Hamilton. The Institute for Contemporary Art will feature the first museum survey of the artist in the spring of 2027.
Pew Center for Arts & Heritage announced $8.6 million awarded through 44 grants to Philadelphia-area cultural institutions and artists. This year’s 32 creative project grants total more than $7.3 million supporting cultural experiences across the greater Philadelphia region. The Pew Fellowship in the Arts awards 12 local artists an annual grant of $85,000 in unrestricted funds, as well as professional advancement resources such as financial counseling, workshops, and opportunities to participate in artist residency programs.
(From left) Eric Bazilian, Devon Gilfillian, and Eliza Hardy Jones.
The ICA has been awarded $360,000 to support “Blackwater Creature” (working title), the first museum survey of artist Allison Janae Hamilton, which will be on view in the spring of 2027. Curated by Hallie Ringle, ICA’s Daniel and Brett Sundheim Chief Curator, the exhibition will debut new work exploring Black Southern domestic life, land stewardship, displacement, and ecological change. Hamilton’s practice spans sculpture, film, photography, and immersive installation, drawing on the mythic and material landscapes of the American South to examine memory, identity, and community. The award will support newly commissioned works, the artist’s first catalog, and community-centered programs that connect these themes with the histories and lived experiences in Philadelphia.
Sosena Solomon, a lecturer in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences, is the recipient of a 2025 Pew Fellowship in the Arts.
(Image: Argenis Apolinario)
WXPN has been awarded $323,460 for the project “Declarations of Independents: Philly Anthems.” As part of that, musicians from Philadelphia will share their perspective on America’s founding document in a multifaceted project honoring the country’s Semiquincentennial (250th anniversary). Featuring commissioned new anthems by established artists—including Eric Bazilian (The Hooters), Devon Gilfillian, and Eliza Hardy Jones (The War On Drugs)—a songwriting challenge for emerging artists, workshops, live performances, and a vinyl LP, the project offers contemporary reflections on the concept of independence. The project is one of numerous events, exhibitions, and initiatives planned throughout 2026 marking the anniversary through the initiative America 250 at Penn.
Solomon was awarded one of 12 arts fellowships by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Through a combination of film, installation, and archival methods, she seeks to document and reimagine the complex experiences of African communities undergoing transition. Foregrounding personal narratives, her work explores culture and identity—as seen in projects like a permanent 12-part film installation for The Metropolitan Museum of Art highlighting major cultural landmarks across sub-Saharan Africa and the caretakers who preserve them. Solomon will teach Documentary Ethnography for Museum of Exhibition Practices and Intro to Media Production at Penn this spring.
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